A Room With A View
by readbetweenthesigns
Summary: The story from Sectionals onwards. What really happened when Quinn moved in with Puck... M for language and adult themes. Elements from season 1, 2 and 3 although not necessarily as they were screened.
1. Chapter 1

** Disclaimer: Ownership is neither claimed nor implied.**

**A/N: From Sectionals to Funk, what really happened when Quinn went to live at Puck's house.**

"Quinn, I'm very pleased to meet you," Puck's mom said as he and Quinn entered the house.

"Thank you," Quinn whispered nervously, her throat almost dry. "Could I have a glass of water please?" she asked Puck.

Puck put Quinn's bags down at the bottom of the stairs. "Sure, I'll be right back," he murmured then went to fulfil her request.

Puck returned with the drink for Quinn, he handed it to her and motioned for her to sit down in the lounge. Puck's mom flicked the TV off and looked at the pair of them on the sofa, watched them in silence for a few moments. "You're welcome to stay here for as long as you want, Quinn," she said, her tone and manner soft and welcoming, "but you both have to abide by my rules," she added more sternly. "First of all, I expect you both to help out around the house, Noah, you know what I expect of you, Quinn, we'll work out some chores for you, nothing too strenuous. Secondly, Noah, you will attend Temple every Friday with your sister and I, no excuses, Quinn, I expect you to attend your own church every Sunday," she said, her tone still firm. "And thirdly, Noah, you will take the attic room, Quinn will have your room, ok?" she instructed. "And I am a very light sleeper," she added, her eyes flicking between the two, the shivering, nervous blond and her brazen son.

"Of course, Mrs Puckerman, and thank you, for opening your home to me," Quinn murmured, she didn't think the rules were excessive, Puck, on the other hand, was giving his mother such an incredulous look, as though he couldn't believe the words that had come out of her mouth. "Well, whatever," Quinn thought, "I get what you mean with the light sleeper bit but you don't need to worry. Not at all. I screwed up by letting your son get me pregnant but there is no way on God's green earth that he is ever getting in my pants again. Ever," she vowed to herself then realised that the conversation had moved on. "I'm sorry Mrs Puckerman," Quinn apologised, "it's been a very trying few days and I just can't seem to focus on anything," she explained. And it was true, she couldn't focus on anything or keep her mind occupied ever since Finn had found out the truth two days ago and had thrown her out of his house. For the second time in six weeks Quinn had found herself abandoned and homeless, she felt just like a piece of driftwood floating on the tide, she had no rudder, no anchor and she was not enjoying the turbulent ride.

"I understand," Mrs Puckerman said with a sympathetic smile at Quinn, "and please, call me Moya," she invited Quinn.

"Thank you, Moya," Quinn replied. "At least it's more of a welcome than I expected," Quinn thought to herself. From all the grumbling Puck did about his mom she'd expected the cold shoulder and no sign of a welcome at all. Quinn was glad to be pleasantly surprised for a change.

"Noah, please take Quinn's belongings to your room, you can change the sheets and the towels too while you're at it," Moya Puckerman ordered her son. Puck considered protesting then remembered the alternative that his mother had offered this morning when he'd broken the news to her about her impending grandchild and it's mother's homeless situation, just seconds before he left for the glee competition. No, moving in with Nana Connie was not an option, the old lady had a serious gas problem and couldn't hear anything under a million decibels, plus she smelt like mothballs and she always gave him out of date candy. Nana Connie was actually Puck's great-nana, his dad's nana. "Nana Connie would take you in in a heartbeat," his mom reminded him. Puck shuddered.

"Let me show you to your room," Puck said quietly as he stood then offered a hand to assist Quinn.

"Thank you," Quinn murmured as she followed Puck. "I wonder if anyone ever died from an overdose of politeness," she thought then had to stifle the giggle that the random thought generated.

"If I empty the closet, will that be enough for you?" Puck asked once they were in his bedroom, his manner was still very stilted, formal, nothing like his usual laid back 'Puckerone' persona.

"It'll do for now but I would like some drawer space too," Quinn replied, checking out the bathroom with something like morbid curiosity. "And please, could you clean up in here?" she asked, noting the discarded underwear and the t-shirt she knew he'd worn to school yesterday, both thrown on the floor along with a damp towel. Quinn also saw the immediate change in Puck, gone was the weird polite person she didn't know, replaced by the cocky self assured Puck she knew and lov...oh crap, where did that come from? Quinn shivered slightly then concentrated on what Puck was saying.

"I suppose you're going to want me to clean the tiles in the shower too, aren't you?" Puck asked, giving Quinn a sly grin. He pulled back the curtain and pointed out some of the higher marks on the wall. "See how high I can get if I think about you when I'm knocking one out?" he asked, taking great delight at the look of disgust on Quinn's face. "That there, that's the goth chick in glee," he said as he pointed lower. "That's Berry," he pointed lower still, "Sue Sylvester washes straight down the drain, no height what so ever," he grinned.

"And Santana?" Quinn asked, her curiosity piqued.

"Santana doesn't leave any marks, she always swallows," Puck said as he turned and left the bathroom.

Quinn followed quickly. "But you're going to clean it, right?" she asked, a little scandalised and a lot disgusted and maybe even a touch flattered, if he had been telling the truth that is and if thoughts of her made him...no, she didn't even want to think about that, she'd made her one mistake, it was never going to happen again, not until she was a lot older and safely married. Maybe then God would forgive her, maybe even her father would too. She might even find it in her heart to forgive herself.

* * *

"So how are things working out for you?" Santana asked as she sidled up to Quinn in the hallway. Truth be told, Santana didn't really want to know, she just wanted an excuse to talk to Quinn and to gloat and, if she was honest, she wanted to rub salt in the wound too, but whether that was Quinn's wound or her own, Santana hadn't yet figured out.

"Really good, thanks," Quinn replied absently as she checked the files and books she needed from her locker.

"Oh really?" Santana asked, giving Quinn a narrow eyed stare. "Is that why Puck's asked me for a blow job every day this week?"

"That's probably because I have his room and his spacious bathroom and he has the attic room and a tiny little cramped bathroom and he doesn't have the space to jerk off in the shower," Quinn retorted, she wasn't entirely sure why she felt slighted by the fact that Puck was turning to Santana, but she did. Quinn turned away to walk to her class, Santana followed her.

"So you're telling me that you don't let your baby daddy, the studliest guy in this school, you don't let him get anywhere with you?" Santana asked, her voice rising in pitch, volume and disbelief. "And you live with him?"

"I don't _live with him_," Quinn denied loudly, "I _live in his house_, that's a different thing entirely," she explained, despite Santana scoffing and trying to refute that.

"It's the same thing in my book," Santana said, looking down her nose at Quinn, "and if I lived in his house, he wouldn't be in no attic room either," she muttered.

"Well that's the difference between you and me," Quinn replied, making her voice sound as though she was bored with the conversation,"you're a slut and I'm just an idiot who got caught out when I succumbed to a single moment of weakness," she sighed then walked away knowing her arrow had hit it's target, dead centre, bull's eye. Santana quietly fumed.

* * *

On Friday night, after Temple, Moya went on her monthly girls' night out with her work colleagues. The second she left the house, Puck ran up to his attic room and made a call.

"Does it bother you that Santana's up there in his room with him?" Chloe, Puck's little sister asked, she was sat on the bed with Quinn, searching for Waldo while Quinn concentrated on her homework. They both looked up at the ceiling as they heard yet more muffled, sultry giggles from Santana and a long happy groan from Puck.

"No," Quinn lied. "He's a free agent, he can do what he likes," she added then wondered who she was trying to convince, Chloe or herself. "I hope your mom doesn't come home and catch them, I think he's in enough trouble with her already," Quinn said, and again, if she analysed it, she'd have to admit she was lying about that too. Quinn really hoped that Moya would come home and catch them and ban Santana from the house and ground Puck. Shit. Where were her thoughts going? Quinn had no idea. She glanced up at the ceiling again, her body on full alert for any sounds from Puck, like that one, that, the groan he made just when he...yeah, Quinn felt herself jerk a little and realised that she was holding her breath. She closed her eyes and pictured Puck as he would be right now, right this very second, towering over her, his hips thrust tight into her, Quinn could almost feel him inside her, her flesh remembered...

* * *

"Hey," Puck said from the doorway where he lounged against the frame, the button of his jeans unfastened, barefoot and shirtless.

"Santana gone?" Quinn drawled, projecting her boredom like a missile. She turned a page in one of her books and made a great show of studying it before writing something in one of her pink files. Puck waited for Quinn to look up again. "You still there?" she asked in surprise twenty minutes later after completing one of her assignments.

"Like you didn't know," Puck mocked. "Yeah, you can hide it all you like from everyone else, I _know _you're still panting for me," he thought, his trademark little smirk on his face.

"Sorry, I was concentrating on my homework, I thought you'd gone," Quinn lied and for once, she didn't feel guilty about doing it. "I'm going out tonight, ok?" she said as she packed her work away in her school bag.

"What?" Puck cried, shocked and rather put out that Quinn would be going out anywhere. "Where are you going? Who are you going with?" he demanded.

"Tom is picking me up at eight o'clock," Quinn replied, smoothing her hair in front of the mirror and checking her appearance, covertly watching Puck's reaction.

"Who the fuck is Tom?" Puck cried, coming into Quinn's room and slamming the door shut behind him. "And where the fuck do you think he's taking you?" he demanded again.

"He's a guy from my church and he's taking me to the movies," Quinn replied calmly, turning to the side to check her figure, she pulled her dress tight to her body to see how much her new curves showed, how much her belly had popped in the last couple of weeks. "Blah," she sighed and pulled a face at herself.

"Does he know that's my baby in there?" Puck growled as he came up behind her, he reached round her to run his hand over her bump. Quinn sucked in a breath as he touched her, it wasn't lost on Puck.

Quinn felt her mouth go dry as their eyes met in the mirror, her breath stalled when Puck stepped even closer up behind her and wrapped both arms around her, holding her captive while one hand traced every part of where their daughter lay. She watched soundlessly as Puck cupped one tender, swollen breast, his other hand inched the hem of her dress higher until he could gain access to her panties. Quinn wondered who the puppet master was who made her feet move, gave her a wider stance, gave Puck room to work his magic with delicate, sensitive fingers. Quinn couldn't even remember turning so that they both faced the mirror, she could just see that they had. Quinn shivered as Puck's fingers stroked and teased her. She sighed, her eyes drifted closed of their own accord as he slid one long, talented finger inside her. They snapped open when that finger started to move, started to thrust in and out, started to create the most delicious sensations that Quinn had ever felt.

Puck hugged Quinn tight to his chest, one hand taking the weight of one of her visibly bigger boobs, the other copping a feel in her panties. "Yeah, two more seconds Puckerman and she is going to fucking cripple you," he told himself. "Maybe not," he added with a glance at her in the mirror. Quinn's mouth was open slightly, her head was back on his shoulder, her eyes were closed, her hands were gripped onto the arm over her belly. "Mmmm, you like this don't you?" Puck thought, he thought about asking her if she did but he didn't want to spoil the moment. Puck had noticed how easy his passage had been this time, far smoother than the day he'd knocked her up, yeah she was really desperate for this, for some Puck-lovin'. Puck's lips found the tender skin at the back of Quinn's ear, his tongue traced a thin line then sought the curve of her ear. "I fucked Santana from behind but I kept my eyes closed so I could pretend she was you," he whispered. Quinn jerked as if she'd been slapped, her eyes flew open again and connected with his in the mirror. "Yeah, you heard us, right?" he asked, Quinn nodded as if someone else was moving her head for her. "I left the door open so you could hear, I thought you might have come up to watch," he murmured, his finger moving faster and faster, Quinn gripped the arm tighter and tighter, her breathing became more and more eratic. "I had to stop myself from shouting out your name when I came all over her ass," Puck admitted, his breath chasing hot patterns over her ear and her cheek. Quinn froze for a split second, her entire body splintered into a million pieces, Puck felt the wash of her satisfaction coat his finger, slowly he withdrew it from her and with their eyes still locked together, Puck lifted his finger to his lips and sucked it slowly into his mouth, Quinn almost fainted in his arms when his eyes closed in ecstasy. "Mmmm," he purred, "delicious," he sighed, then the look on his face turned hard. "Just remember where you live and who you live with when you're giving Tom a blow job in the back of his daddy's car to say thanks for taking you out on a date," he sneered.

"Fuck you, Puckerman," Quinn hissed, their eyes still locked together through the mirror.

"Whenever you're ready," Puck offered, smirking at Quinn. "Just say the word and it's all yours, baby," he offered, indicating his groin area.

* * *

"Thank you Tom, for a lovely evening," Quinn said politely as the young man stopped the car outside the Puckerman home. "I know your father forced you into this and maybe he feels he can save both of us at the same time but I..."

Tom cut Quinn off. "So you figured out my secret?" he asked, embarrassed.

"That you're gay?" Quinn asked, Tom nodded. "Tom," Quinn sighed, touching the lapel of Tom's jacket, "I've known since we were six," she told him, Tom rolled his eyes and looked even more embarrassed. "You always wanted to play with my dolls house and my baby carriage," she reminded the blushing boy. "Tell your mom and dad I'm fine and I'll be at church this week, Moya insists on it," she said with a nod towards the house. "She's making Puck go to Temple every week too, he is so pissed," she added with a snicker of laughter.

"Good night Quinn," Tom said softly as she got out of the car after he'd kissed her cheek. "I'll tell the pastor," he said, giving his father the name he always called him, "that you're doing fine and you don't need me complicating your life any more than it already is," he added with a nod towards the top floor windows and the angry faced young man who was glaring out at them. Quinn smiled her thanks and waved goodbye before entering the house.

* * *

Quinn woke suddenly, dragged out of her slumber by something, she wasn't sure what. There it was, a noise, a weight, a heat behind her. Quinn moved as slowly as she could, as silently as she could, she held her breath as she nervously looked over her shoulder...

"So you're awake?" Puck growled, his frustration almost sending visible sparks into the darkened room.

"I am now," Quinn grumbled, her heart rate slowing to normal levels. "What time is it?" she asked.

"Two, three, something like that," Puck shrugged, "You sleep like the fucking dead, I've been trying to wake you up since midnight," he complained. "I had to wait till my mom fell asleep, light sleeper my ass," he mocked, "I could have tap danced the whole way up and down the stairs and she wouldn't have fucking heard me," he bragged. "So what's with you and this Tony guy?" he asked, finally getting to the point of why he was in her room. "Why don't I know him, does he go to McKinley?"

"Tom," Quinn corrected, "he goes to Dalton and he's an old family friend, his parents thought it might be an idea if we got together once in a while just to touch base," she mumbled sleepily.

"Yeah? Well if he touches any of your bases he'll answer to me," Puck snarled.

"Jealous, much?" Quinn murmured, turning back over and settling down to sleep again.

"Oh, I'm not jealous," Puck claimed angrily, sounding even more jealous.

"Right, whatever," Quinn mumbled, sleep claiming her once more.

"I'm not," Puck insisted quietly. "I am not fucking jealous," he repeated firmly to himself. "Fuck it," he hissed when nudging her had no effect. Puck got under the covers with Quinn.

* * *

Quinn came to very slowly on Saturday morning, she felt incredibly strange, her bed felt strange, different. She stretched, stopping abruptly when her toes encountered warm flesh. Warm, hairy flesh. She opened her eyes and found Puck staring at her, laid on his side next to her, just staring. "Stalker," Quinn accused under her breath.

"I've been awake for hours waiting for you," Puck grumbled. "Chlo just dived in here and said my mom's up, she's in the bathroom by the way," he added as they heard the toilet flush.

"Who is? Your mom?" Quinn asked, confused.

"Chloe," Puck replied as though Quinn was a simpleton.

"Hey, Quinn, what do you want for breakfast?" Chloe asked happily, jumping onto the bed and snuggling with Quinn. "Mom says you're not allowed in here Noah," she reminded her brother. "I'm telling," she added, poking her tongue out at him.

"A bird will come and peck that off if you're not careful," Puck growled at the seven year old. "And if you tell mom, I won't sneak you any more sour patch kids," he bargained.

"It won't, will it Quinn?" Chloe sort of claimed, asked and begged, all at the same time. "A bird won't get my tongue, will it?"

"Of course not," Quinn replied, automatically wanting to comfort the little girl. "Your brother is just being an idiot," she told her, "and mean," she added. "A mean idiot. Nothing new there then," she sighed. "What are you doing in here anyway?" she asked Puck. "And did you wake me up through the night?" she demanded, puzzled. "I had the weirdest dream, I thought you woke me up to tell me it was like two o'clock in the morning," she laughed, shaking her head at her ridiculous imagination.

"I did, I wanted to talk to you and you just fell right back to sleep," Puck grumbled. "So I waited till you woke up just now."

"You mean you went back to your own room and came back when you woke up," Quinn corrected him.

"No, I mean I stayed here till you woke up," Puck corrected Quinn.

"No, no, no, no, no," Quinn cried, her hands covering her face, her fingertips pressing tight into her eyes. "No, you can't do that to me, you can't sleep here with me," she wailed. "God won't ever forgive me if you do stuff like yeste...like that," she cried, catching herself when she realised she could give a lot of information away.

"Noah, what are you doing in here and why are you in bed with Quinn?" Moya demanded from the doorway.

"I'm in here too mom," Chloe shouted happily from in between Puck and Quinn.

"I can see that sweetie," Moya answered with a smile, "you're allowed, your brother isn't," she said, her voice turning hard. "I already warned you Noah, if you want to go live with Nana Connie, that's fine by me," she said as she turned away from the door.

"Jeez, I just wanted to find out how Quinn made out on her date last night," Puck sighed. "And I miss my bed," he added under his breath, shifting slightly on his wonderfully comfortable mattress, a far cry from the lumpy, uncomfortable mattress that graced the bed in the attic room.

"Date?" Moya asked, as she spun back to look at Quinn, she was clearly scandalised. "You can't go out on _dates_," she exclaimed. "You're pregnant with _his_ baby," she reminded Quinn, as if she could ever forget.

"God," Quinn cried, covering her eyes again. "It _wasn't _a date," she said forcefully. "Tom is an old family friend, his dad is the pastor of my church, his parents asked him to take me out just to keep in touch and he's gay for Pete's sake," she shouted. "And if I can't date, you can't invite Santana over either, fair's fair," she shouted at Puck.

"Santana?" Moya cried, even louder, looking aghast at Puck. "That-that, oooh, that _girl_," she eventually managed to say through gritted teeth. "She was here? When?" she demanded.

"Noah and Santana were in his room last night when you went out," Chloe happily explained. "She must have been ill because she was moaning and groaning then she went home early," she added, "I think Noah scared her away because he only had his jeans on, she maybe thought he was tired and wanted to go to bed."

"Noah," Moya screeched. "We talked about this before."

Puck sank back onto his own bed, the one with the memory foam mattress and pillows, the one with the flat screen TV that rose up from the foot of it, the one with the stash of porn DVDs underneath it, the one he'd had to give up to Quinn. Kid fucking sisters, they all ought to be gagged at birth, he wished a bird really would come and peck off her tongue. He didn't even dare look at his mom.

"Noah," Moya began, her voice a calm, measured show of patience. Puck wondered if it was better to just try his luck at Nana Connie's. "Go get dressed, I will see you downstairs and you better believe you are in trouble, boyo," she hissed.

"Thanks Chlo," Puck growled sarcastically at his sister the second their mom was out of earshot. "You're a little shit, you know that? Always fu-reakin' stirring it," he sniped at her, but at least he saved himself further punishment from his mom, no way would Chloe not tell her if he'd actually said the f word.

* * *

Moya waited at the kitchen table for Puck to reluctantly join her. "Ground rules, Noah," she said, the second he walked through the door. "You will not bring back or invite any other girls here, you most certainly will not have a girl in your bedroom, you will treat Quinn with respect and you will do any and all chores without complaint, delay or diversion. I am disappointed in you, Noah, I cannot tell you how disappointed," she sighed. Moya looked at Puck with tears in her eyes. "You were such a kind little boy, what happened to you?" she asked in wonderment. "Did I fail you? Was it something your father did? What?" she asked, hoping to get some sort of understanding.

Puck sat down heavily, he sighed, his body sagging back against the seat. "Mom, it's not your fault, it's just me, I like sex, what can I say?" he said with a sigh. "Quinn's never going to let me get near her again," he told his mom although he was hopeful that he could change her mind in the near future, those hormones had to kick in sometime, according to the baby books anyway, "not that you'd ever let us share my room in any case," he acknowledged with a roll of his eyes. "I don't see why it would be a problem," he added with a shrug, "it's not like she could get any more pregnant than she already is," he mocked. "I know I screwed up mom and I'm sorry, there's no way to apologise to Quinn enough, I mean, I can't change what's happening right now, but you're right, I should treat her with more respect and I promise, I'll try to control myself from now on," he finished, knowing it was what his mom wanted to hear. Puck couldn't believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. "Woah, where is this shit coming from Puckerman?" the words twirled round his head even as he was speaking to his mom. "Yeah, right, like you're ever going to give up sex," his internal voice mocked. "You'll _die_ if you don't get laid every day." Puck surreptitiously crossed his fingers under the table.

"Well, you are going to do the grocery shopping today, take Chloe with you," Moya instructed, not the slightest bit fooled by her son, "but first, you can wash the windows," she said, her eyebrow raised as Puck opened his mouth to protest. "Outside," she added with relish.

Puck realised that he was only going to get more stuff heaped on him if he complained so he wisely shut his trap. "Do you need Quinn for anything?" he asked his mom, she shook her head. "She might want to come shopping too, maybe there's stuff she likes to eat that we don't usually buy," he said with a shrug, hoping she'd see that as him being more considerate.

"That's fine, if she wants to go," Moya nodded. "But you are still taking Chloe, whether or not, so deal with it," she reminded him. Puck pouted but didn't reply, he sighed as he went to take care of the first of his chores.

* * *

"Chlo, just knock it off," Puck sighed as his sister whined yet again about some stupid cereal or other. "Mom's told you before, you can't have the stuff that's full of sugar, it sends you hyper."

Quinn listened to the siblings grumble and argue. "Do we have to go straight home when we finish here?" she asked.

"Well, if we don't, the frozen stuff will defrost, so yeah," Puck replied absently as he checked the list again. "But we have to stop off at Kramer's on the way home, why?" he asked.

"Why Kramer's, why don't you just get meat here?" Quinn asked as she pointed to the chilled displays of meat products, wondering why they didn't buy their meat at the supermarket instead of going to the small, family run butcher shop.

"Because that's not Kosher," Chloe informed Quinn with a cute grin. Quinn looked surprised, she hadn't realised that she had been eating something different and said so.

"Kosher isn't a type of food, it's the way that the food is prepared, stored and cooked," Puck explained. "It's the same stuff, it's just that we only eat certain parts of an animal and it must be slaughtered in a specific way then prepared in a certain way," he elaborated but still saw confusion clouding her face. "It's like," he sighed, trying to think of an example. "Right, like, I love pizza, right?" he asked, Quinn nodded. "Have you ever seen me eating a pizza with meat on it?" he asked, Quinn thought for a moment then shook her head. "Right, because we don't eat meat and dairy together, I always have a veggie option pizza, and a lot of foods like lasagne, pasta dishes usually that call for a lot of cheese, we tend to go for the veggie option with that too, it's why we have two food prep areas at home, a dairy and a meat area, two fridges, two sets of utensils, it's not hard and actually, it's really healthy to keep Kosher," he finished then checked his list before walking away to a different aisle. "Come on, keep up," he called over his shoulder with a grin.

Quinn followed Puck, catching him up as he read the label on something his mom had written on the list. "See, Kosher," Puck pointed out to Quinn. "We try not to buy anything that doesn't say Kosher on the label," he explained. "Where's Chloe?" he asked, looking round for his sister. "Chloe?" he shouted.

"What?" Chloe answered, wandering round the end of the aisle towards her brother. "I was only looking at the hair stuff on the twirly thing," she told Puck.

"Well, don't," Puck warned her. "I'm already in enough trouble with mom without you disappearing too," he grouched at the little girl. "Don't even," he ordered when it looked like Chloe was about to poke her tongue out at him. "I told you this morning, a bird will fly down and peck it off. It happens. It happened to a guy at our school and now he can't talk. Ever," he said dramatically.

"It does not," Chloe insisted, "you're a liar, I googled it," she announced then poked her tongue out.

Puck made a grab for it. "I swear Chloe, I am going to cut that damn thing off if you keep doing that," he growled at her. Chloe skipped away to hold Quinn's hand.

"Can we just get on with this?" Quinn sighed, fed up with food shopping already. "We still have to get to the butcher's then get everything home and I thought maybe, after that, we could maybe go out again?" she said, her voice disappearing as she came to the end of her sentence, she winced at the look on Puck's face.

"Where were you thinking of going?" Puck asked, not sure if he wanted to go anywhere with Quinn, not if it was going to be some lame dumbass girl thing that she wanted to do.

"I don't know yet," Quinn sighed, seeing the look on Puck's face. "Doesn't matter," she added with an even bigger sigh.

"No, come on, we'll finish this and then we'll do whatever you want," Puck offered, seeing his afternoon of lazing round on the sofa and watching crap on TV melting away in favour of brown nosing some forgiveness points from his mom. Quinn happily hurried through the rest of the shopping and a trip to the butcher's.

* * *

"So where did you want to go?" Puck asked as they climbed back into his ancient, clapped out truck.

"We could just drive somewhere pretty and then go for a walk," Quinn suggested.

Puck didn't even turn the key in the ignition. "If by somewhere pretty you mean the mall, it's not happening," he insisted. "The weather's decent, we'll drive over to Fort Amanda, there's a nature trail that leads to the river," he suggested, surprising himself that he was looking forward to such an activity.

They drove in silence, both of them lost in their own thoughts. "How am I going to make it through a week if I can't have sex with anyone?" Puck asked himself. "Maybe I can do Santana at school," his inner voice suggested. "She doesn't usually object, but she normally gets more out of it, like being able to hang off me and pretend like I'm her boyfriend or something, but that really wouldn't be fair to Quinn, not that _she'd_ ever think of me as her boyfriend, God I'd love to be in bed with her right now, her skin is just so..." he breathed heavily, sniffing in a great lung full of air. "What?" he asked, suddenly realising that Quinn was talking to him.

"I didn't like knowing what you were doing with Santana," Quinn said again, her voice quiet, a little tearful.

"Were you jealous" Puck asked, almost afraid of the answer.

Quinn didn't reply immediately, she bit her lip nervously and took several deep breaths before she could. "Yes," she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I was jeaous when you went out with that guy," Puck admitted. "I wanted to rip his fucking face off, especially when you kissed him," he told her with a scowl. Puck parked up as they arrived in the almost abandoned parking lot.

"I only gave him a peck on the lips," Quinn defended herself with a grin she tried to hide.

"What constitutes a peck?" Puck asked, seeing the possibility of taking advantage a little.

"You know, just a little peck," Quinn murmured as she self-consciously smoothed her hands up and down the length of her thighs.

Puck turned in his seat a little, smirking at the blush on Quinn's cheeks. "No, I don't know, explain it to me," he suggested.

"How about I show you?" Quinn sighed and leaned in to Puck at the same time as he leaned in to her. Quinn's smooth, soft, strawberry flavoured lips tingled as they touched his taut, talented ones. "Like that," she said after the briefest of contact.

"No," Puck denied with a grin, "that can't be a peck, this must be a peck," he said as he swooped in to meld their mouths together for a much more satisfying, tongue tangling, toe curling kiss. "Wow," he breathed as they drew apart. "I thought I must have imagined how good it was, that day, built it up in my head because of this," he stroked her stomach, "but I didn't, it was real," he muttered, staring into Quinn's eyes, his hand cupping her cheek. "I've never felt anything like that with anyone else, ever," he assured her, bemused by it, by the sensation, the electricity that was still racing through his body.

"Me either," Quinn replied, "I thought it was the wine coolers," she admitted, "I thought they'd made me feel things that just weren't possible, but it wasn't them it was you, just you," she said in wonderment. Puck's head descended again to claim her lips once more.

Puck held Quinn's hand as they wandered the trail to the river, he made sure that she didn't lose her footing, he was ultra careful of her. In a clearing, just near the river bank, they sat at a picnic table to talk. "We have to take things slowly," Quinn said, thinking aloud. "We've rushed into too much already, we need to take things slowly," she repeated firmly, looking at Puck to make sure he understood what she was saying.

"You mean you still won't sleep with me?" Puck translated with a grin, Quinn nodded her head, thankful that he'd got it. "But we get to make out, right?" he asked, suddenly scared that even that privilege would be denied him.

"I suppose we can make out," Quinn agreed cautiously, although she sounded happy about it.

"Cool," Puck murmured, "I can't promise I won't try to tempt you," he admitted without a hint of shame, "because from what I've read in those baby books, you are going to be howling for it soon," he grinned then leaned in for another kiss.

Quinn pulled away, laughing. "Trust you," she groaned. "How did I know you'd find that section?" she asked in mock disgust. "Did you read anything else?" she asked.

"Nope," Puck replied proudly, "just that we can do it right up till she's born," he informed Quinn, "and then you have to wait six weeks till you're up for it again. Just the important stuff," he grinned.

Quinn didn't answer, she just rolled her eyes and tried her best to suppress her smile. "Tell me about your sister," she suggested to change the subject. "She's such a lot younger than you, what's the story?" she asked, trying to get Puck to talk.

"Well, my dad left when I was about seven," Puck began with a sigh, he never liked talking about that.

"So you have the same mom and different dads?" Quinn asked, assuming that Moya had found another guy when Puck's dad left.

"No, we have the same mom and dad," Puck corrected Quinn's assumption. "No, he came back a couple of months later, California hadn't worked out for him. Mom took him back, she got pregnant, he skipped again, last time I saw him I was maybe eleven, twelve, something like that, he came to see us at Hanukkah for some reason," he shrugged and rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Chloe doesn't know him at all, he's never been a part of her life, he's just an asshole," he explained, his words deceptively uncaring, as though he didn't give a shit. Truth was, Puck cared a great deal, he was still dealing with the hurt of being abandoned by his dad. Quinn silently gave Puck a sympathetic smile and his hand a squeeze.

* * *

"Come on, you know you want to," Puck whispered, his lips touching her ear, his fingers describing circles on her hips .

"No," Quinn whispered back, but she couldn't contain either the smile or the shiver that both his words and his lips caused.

Puck groaned and pouted and gave Quinn the sad, sad puppy dog eyes through the mirror. "Pretty please?" he begged and pouted even more.

"What are you doing in here?" Rachel demanded as she walked into the girls' bathroom near the choir room. She glanced between both Puck and Quinn, noted how close Puck was stood, tucked right up to Quinn's behind, it all looked very intimate.

"Nothing," Puck replied, "I'm just leaving, I'll be in the parking lot at three thirty, see you later," he added to Quinn, catching her eye again in the mirror, giving her a little wink as his hand just very faintly stroked across her ass. Puck saw the glint in her eyes, he knew she was just as affected by him as he was by her. He seriously had to speak to his mom about the rules.

* * *

"It's nice to see you and Noah getting on so well," Moya commented at the end of the following week while she and Quinn made dinner. Quinn smiled prettily but didn't answer. "That doesn't mean you get to stay in Quinn's room after ten o'clock, Noah," she shouted over her shoulder. "Doing homework is one thing but you're not staying there all night," she reminded him as he came to the kitchen door to check out what Quinn and his mom were talking about.

"Right, 'cos people can't have sex in broad daylight, only at night, right mom?" Puck replied a touch sarcastically. "And only in bedrooms. You know the only time we ever did it before was in the afternoon, right?" he asked, ignoring the 'oh God shut the fuck up' face that Quinn was pulling at him. "And would it be so bad? We are at least actually dating now," Puck reminded his mom. "She was dating someone else when we did that," he grinned and nodded towards Quinn's stomach.

Moya looked at both her son and at Quinn, she weighed his statement up in her head, listened to his words as her mind replayed the conversation, she glanced once more at Quinn, saw that she looked nervous, unsettled. "Ok," she started, nodding in Quinn's direction, keeping her eyes firmly on her rather than on her son. "Ok, if you both agree that it's what you want," Moya started again, "and it's not just some flash in the pan thing," she added, "then at weekends you may spend the night together," she announced and glanced at Puck, she saw the half smile appear on his face, the one he'd inherited directly from his dad, no wonder Quinn couldn't resist it, Moya totally got it, she'd had the same problem. Moya looked at Quinn, she didn't look quite as happy as Noah but she looked relieved, which surprised Moya. "Quinn? Is everything ok?" she asked, concerned.

Quinn struggled to answer. How could she say to Puck's mom that she was very happy about the change in rules, thrilled actually, because she thought she was about to explode with frustration, really, how could she say that? None of the baby books said anything about that, they just said that the sex drive _can_ increase. "Way to understate things," Quinn thought with a snort, "yeah, from nought to screaming for it in twenty weeks." She'd come perilously close to taking advantage of herself in the shower, like Puck proudly claimed he did, the day she moved in. Quinn gulped then nodded, yes, she was ok, she was very ok with it, she determinedly blanked out the little voice in her head that was screaming "only after marriage," over and over again.

Puck was verging on ecstatic, he knew how hard Quinn was trying to hold off, he knew how frustrated she was, how close to exploding she was, but still she'd refused to let him help her out, and he had offered plenty of times, but she'd remained steadfast because his mom had said they weren't allowed. Puck didn't even attempt to hide the naughty little grin that appeared on his lips, they might not have actually got naked since the wine cooler thing, but they sure got close when they were making out on her bed. He wondered how long dinner was going to take, they'd already been to Temple so technically this was already the weekend, so in theory, according to his mom's new rules, he could stay in his own room tonight. With Quinn. Hallelujah.

* * *

"No way do you want to watch that crappy movie," Puck whispered into Quinn's neck as they washed up after dinner. Quinn had just told him that she wanted to hurry up because a movie was starting soon and she and Moya were going to watch it. "We're going to finish up in here and go upstairs," he murmured, his hot breath making Quinn shiver. "And you are going to become very familiar with Puckasaurus," he groaned as Quinn pressed her body back into him, connecting with the front of him, it made him shiver, just like she did.

"Fine, no movie," Quinn whispered back, her lips nibbling along Puck's jaw once she turned in his arms, her wet, soapy hands sliding up past his ears to smooth over his head. "Or maybe we can watch one of the ones you have hidden under your bed," she murmured with an eyebrow arched up.

"You found those?" Puck asked with a wince. "Hey, sometimes my hand needs inspiration, what can I say?" he offered with a grin and a slight blush.

"I really don't think we'll need any outside inspiration today," Quinn told Puck, pouting a little to offer her lips to him.

* * *

Puck made sure the lock was firmly in place the instant they stepped into Quinn's room. Right now he was so glad that he'd insisted on it, when his grandpa was still around to argue his case for him with his mom. Puck remembered it. "Give the boy a break, Moya," Puck's grandpa had said to his daughter. "He's growing up, getting older, he needs his privacy," he said, nodding with his bushy grey eyebrows hiked right up towards his even bushier grey hair. "He doesn't want to be enjoying his 'private time' and have little Chloe here wander in, she's walking round now, you can understand the kid, give him a break," the old guy had said again. Puck had got the lock, he and his grandpa had installed it together. Puck smiled at the memory.

"What?" Quinn asked when Puck seemed to remain attached to the door, his hand on the lock.

"Nothing," Puck answered, his smile changing slightly. "I promise we'll take this slow," he said quietly as he stepped towards her. "We don't have to do anything you don't want to," he offered, like the gentleman he really wasn't. Puck initiated the next kiss and it started out white hot, Quinn took over and it became molten, neither of them could breathe properly, both of them were on the verge of hyperventilating.

Quinn stepped back, taking herself out of his arms. She stepped round him and crawled onto the bed, she glanced over her shoulder, flirting for all she was worth. Puck didn't wait for a verbal invitation, he followed Quinn down onto the bed, sliding up close to her. Puck's arm stole underneath Quinn's shoulders, he leaned over and looked down into her glowing eyes, watched them drift shut as his head descended to join their lips again.

For a long time they just kissed, made out, like they'd been doing every night since last weekend, then suddenly, that wasn't enough, not for either of them. Quinn shifted, turned slightly and leaned over him. With one hand she grasped the back of Puck's neck, holding his lips against hers, her other hand roamed down his front till it encountered the waistband of his jeans. Puck broke the kiss to suck in a breath as Quinn's fingers at first slid under the denim and stroked across his stomach from hip to hip then tugged his jeans open, one button at a time.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Puck forced himself to ask, his voice almost quivering with need. He closed his eyes and swallowed hard, hoping, praying that she would answer with...

"Yes," Quinn replied, her voice husky. "Yes, I'm sure," she assured Puck and slid her hand into his unfastened jeans. Puck groaned, his stomach clenched up a little, his muscles contracting in response to her delicate touch. "Teach me," she murmured against his chest through his t-shirt, her lips moving, trailing lower to meet her hand. "Show me how," she pleaded.

"Show you what?" Puck replied, trying his best to sound normal, finding it difficult to talk with his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth.

"Show me how to do everything Santana does for you," Quinn explained, looking up the length of his body to his half closed eyes, she saw the instant they snapped open in shock.

"You don't have to do that," Puck said huskily. "You don't have to compete with her," he added to make sure she understood.

"I don't want to compete," Quinn quickly denied, "I want to win," she said as her tongue made contact with the quivering skin just below his neat little belly button. "Tell me what to do," she said again.

Puck took a slow breath in to calm himself. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked, lifting Quinn's head with his hand under her chin, he looked down at her, into her sparkling eyes. "Pull my pants down," he instructed when her look remained steady. Quinn followed his instruction awkwardly, Puck lifted his hips to help. When the pants were low enough on his hips he spoke again. "You might want to touch first, explore, make yourself familiar with..." he stopped as Quinn broke in.

"With Puckasaurus?" she asked with a little giggle.

"Yeah," Puck answered with a grin. "Puckasaurus," he repeated as he pushed his boxers down exposing himself to her.

Quinn gulped as Puck's hot, hard, impressive erection came into view. "I don't remember it being that big before," she said nervously then looked up into Puck's amused face.

"Well it was, you just didn't look before," Puck replied, feeling quite proud of himself and his appendage.

"So what do I do with it?" Quinn asked again, shuffling to get comfortable. "Mmm," she moaned as Puck's leg slipped between both of hers and gave her a touch of relief. She took matters into her own hands. Literally. Quinn took a deep breath to calm herself then wrapped one hand lightly around Puck's fairly substantial girth, sliding it all the way up then all the way down. Quinn repeated the move a number of times. "Is that good?" she asked as Puck tried to stifle a moan.

"Mm," Puck nodded, "but it's better if you don't go all the way down like that, at least not that hard," he suggested, not particularly loving the almost thump in the nuts she'd managed to give him each time her fist descended. "This way," he advised and gently clasped his hand around hers, showing Quinn the motion, the rhythm that he liked best. "If you want you can use your tong...yeah, yeah, like that, just like, oh God, are you sure you've never done...God, fuck, yeah, Jeez, Quinn, ahh," he stuttered as Quinn's lips wrapped around him, her tongue curling over the tip, her hand still moving slowly under his direction.

"Quinn?" Chloe shouted after trying the door handle. "Will you find Waldo with me?" she asked.

Quinn had jerked to a stop, she lifted her head and looked at Puck in absolute terror. "We shouldn't be doing this," she whispered, completely ashamed of herself. "I can't believe I was doing this, we shouldn't do this, we are so going to hell," she muttered to herself as she climbed off the bed, her head in her hands.

"Quinn, Quinn," Puck growled quietly to get her attention without alerting his sister to his presence. "Relax," he said as he took hold of her shoulders. "We are not going to hell," he said firmly, "but we sure as fuck are going to find a little bit of heaven," he added with a grin, "just as soon as I get rid of my sister." Puck fastened his pants as he went to the door. He opened it a crack and looked through the gap with just one eye. "S'up Chlo?" he asked the little girl.

"Oh I am so telling mom you're in here," Chloe chirped. "I want Quinn, not you," she sneered as only a seven year old can.

"Tell mom, see if I care," Puck responded and only just stopped himself from poking his tongue out at her. "And Quinn is busy, really busy, so buzz off and find Waldo yourself," he said then shut the door and locked it again.

"Mom," Chloe yelled from right outside the door. "Mom, Noah's in Quinn's room and he locked the door," she shouted. Neither Puck nor Quinn could actually hear Moya's reply but Chloe's groan made Puck smile even more. "That's not fair," Chloe whined, "_I_ wanted to spend time with Quinn."

"I guess that told her," Puck murmured against Quinn's lips as he brought them close again, got them back in the mood again. Puck taught Quinn a lot through the rest of the night but he was surprised by how much she taught him too. Together they discovered the most comfortable ways for them to be together without crushing the baby, Quinn discovered that years and years of workouts had given her muscle control that Puck really, really appreciated and Quinn found that Puck could do things with his tongue and his fingers that she was sure would be illegal in some states. By the time she fell asleep, Quinn felt truly worshipped and adored. More than once. More than twice actually, but she didn't want to brag.

* * *

Quinn woke to find Puck already awake, spooned up behind her, stroking her stomach. "Morning," she whispered huskily, her voice not quite ready to be used yet.

"Morning," Puck murmured against her hair. "How do you feel this morning?" he asked, slightly worried in case they'd done too much, been too energetic.

"I feel wonderful," Quinn replied as she stretched, luxuriating in his warm, loving embrace.

"I have to get up, my mom just shouted, she has stuff for me to do, you too," Puck advised Quinn, "but we're going out for pizza tonight with Mike, Matt, Brittany and Santana, Mike text about an hour ago," he informed her.

Quinn wrinkled up her nose and pouted. "Do we have to?" she asked, almost a whining tone in her voice, she turned over to lay facing him.

"Not if you don't feel up to it," Puck agreed. "Maybe you'll need an early night?" he suggested hopefully.

"We haven't even got out of bed yet and already you're talking of getting back in it," Quinn giggled. "But I think so," she said as she touched her lips to Puck's. "And there's no way I'm going anywhere with you and Santana except for school," she added in her head.

* * *

"Sorry dude," Puck apologised on the phone to Mike later in the day. "Quinn isn't feeling up to it, she's like, really tired or something," he said, making it sound like he had no idea. Puck winked at Quinn. "Yeah, I know, it's really shit but what can I do? It's not fair to just dump her on my mom, you know?" he finished then listened to Mike mutter something about a deal with the devil or satan or something, Puck wasn't really taking any notice, he was far too busy tasting Quinn's amazingly sensitive, pouting nipples. "Later," he said suddenly then dropped his phone onto the bed.

* * *

"You got off light on Saturday night," Mike grumbled to Puck on Monday morning. "I got stuck with Santana all night and God was she in a bitch of a mood," he complained. "She never stopped fucking whining all night," he explained. "See, _I _wasn't in her plan, _I_ was supposed to hook up with Quinn leaving you free to do your thing with her."

"Never going to happen, dude," Puck said, patting Mike's shoulder. Yes he knew Mike had a thing for Quinn, he'd had that since the very first time Quinn had stepped out on the field in her tiny, little Cheerios uniform. Puck had been there that day, he'd seen her too and wondered when he was going to get to tap that, although he'd actually been more entranced by Santana's overt sexuality, if he was being honest. "Just keep her in your spank bank and move on," Puck advised Mike. "And for fuck's sake don't tell me about it, I'd hate to have to explain to Coach Tenaka why I'm pounding the fuck out of one of my team mates," he added to himself.

* * *

"I don't care, Noah," Moya shouted at Puck as he grumbled about seeing the specialist. "You're going to see Dr Freidlander on Monday and that's final," she insisted, checking the mole again, she was certain it had grown in the ten minutes since she'd found it.

* * *

On Monday Dr Freidlander shaved Puck's head, then cheerfully told him it was just a freckle. Moya was not convinced. "Are you sure it's not skin cancer?" she asked the doctor five times before the end of the appointment.

"I am absolutely certain," Dr Freidlander replied, "but don't forget to cover up when you're cleaning those pools, Noah, slip, slap, slop, don't forget now," he called with enthusiasm.

"Could that guy get any more lame?" Puck grumbled as he and his mom headed for the elevator. "He was totally checking you out mom," he decided to say to see if he could freak her out as much as he was freaking out at the reflection that was staring back at him.

"He was not," Moya replied, "and it's lovely to see you without that mohawk," she added with a smile then brushed her hand over his shaven head. Puck scowled.

* * *

Puck's new look brought a whole bunch of issues. There were the dweebs, the nerds and the losers who suddenly thought that they were allowed to fight back for the years of torment that Puck had inflicted on them since his muscles started filling out in middle school. There was Mercedes suddenly giving Puck the eye, despite her being one of Quinn's closest friends. There was Santana openly competing with Mercedes for Puck's attention. "Well excuse the fuck out of me," Quinn sighed almost silently as she watched them stare each other down.

"You know it's not going to happen," Puck insisted as he snuggled up to Quinn in her bed. He smiled happily into her hair and pressed closer for a second then relaxed. "If my mom finds us again, we are screwed," he mumbled as he drifted off to sleep.

"It's Wednesday night," Quinn murmured, "that's almost the weekend," she added with a tired smile. Quinn hugged Puck's arms closer to her as she melted back into him then drifted off to sleep.

* * *

It happened. Quinn gave Mercedes the go ahead, in a tongue in cheek fashion, to pursue Puck because she felt secure in the knowledge that Puck wouldn't go for Mercedes. And he didn't, not really, he just walked around school with her a little to let some of her new found coolness rub off on him. And it worked, it freakin' worked. And then came the showdown.

"Fuck, this is embarrassing," Puck murmured to Quinn as Santana and Mercedes almost came to blows during a duet, each of them claiming priority over Puck.

Quinn had heard enough. "Actually," she sighed as she stood up, "I think you'll find he's mine," she announced then stalked out of the choir room with everyone's gaze on her back.

"I did not see that coming," Artie murmured to Tina almost conversationally, they both turned to look at Puck to see if he'd dispute Quinn's claim. He didn't.

"When she's right, she's right," Puck said and stood up to follow Quinn.

"What do you mean?" Santana screeched, grabbing hold of Puck's hand as he passed, stopping him in his tracks. "She just lives in your house, you aren't together," she insisted.

"Would you like me to spell it out for you?" Puck asked facetiously. "Quinn and I are in a relationship, an exclusive relationship," he clarified.

"How come she never told me?" Mercedes and Santana both cried at the same time, both of them trying to assert their right as Quinn's friend.

"Maybe because neither of you have really been there for her," Puck shouted back. "Tell me," he suggested crossly, "when did either of you call her just to chat, to maybe make plans for the weekend, to go shopping, to the mall, just hang out?" he demanded. "I can answer you," he told the two girls who were studiously avoiding his angry eyes. "You haven't, not once since she moved in with me," he reminded them. "You think she can handle this all on her own?" he asked. "No," he answered that question too, "she can't, neither of us can, but she's got the hardest part of it," he said, getting a touch angrier. "You know what? Forget it," he growled as he left the room in search of Quinn.

The whole group looked at the empty doorway, wondering if either Puck or Quinn would come back.

"He's right," Mercedes said quietly. "When she lived with Finn I went round all the time, picked her up, did stuff with her. Since she moved to Puck's, I haven't even called her," she admitted, feeling ashamed of herself.

"Maybe that's because you knew the truth all along and when she lived with me she was in the wrong place," Finn suggested. "You knew who was really responsible, maybe you felt like she'd moved to the right place, didn't need you," he said, wondering if anyone actually understood what he meant.

"Maybe," Mercedes murmured, still feeling the flush of shame coating her.

* * *

"Hey," Puck murmured as he found Quinn in the girls' bathroom. "You ok?" he asked, checking her face to see if he could read anything in her expression. "You know you have nothing to worry about, right?" he said, stepping up behind her. "They all know now that we are together, we're a family," he added quietly, his lips finding her ear as his hands moulded her bump.

"Oh how touching," Sue Sylvester said as she came out of one of the stalls. "Nope, that's not quite what I meant," she corrected herself. "Stop touching, that's what I meant," she said firmly, watching Puck and Quinn in the mirror, saw Puck's hand tighten just a little over the grotesque mound that was a human, growing like an alien inside her head cheerleader. "Quinn Fabray, you had such potential," she sighed sadly, shaking her head slowly in disgust, "till you let the sperminator into your regulation spanks and that was that," she sighed again. "You'll always be a nothing now, a nobody," she told Quinn. "You could have been a champion, you could have led a team of champions, instead you..." she was cut short by Quinn.

"Instead I'll be a mother," Quinn retorted, her eyes flashing fire at her former coach. "And I'll make a damn good one, too," she told Sue forcefully. "My daughter won't fall into the same trap as me, I'll make sure she knows the facts of life. But even if she does, I'll love her unconditionally," she said, her voice breaking, cracking as tears fell. Puck turned Quinn and drew her tighter into his arms, shushing her, his eyes still locked on Sue.

"And that will always be your weakness, Q," Sue Sylvester sighed as she wiped her hands on a paper towel. "Love," she said with disgust. "It's a useless emotion, it just sucks the life right out of you," she told them both. "And if you had any sense you'd give this child to a family who deserve it, who really want it," she advised. "Just because you hooked your legs round your ears in the back seat of the first car he could jimmy open and then didn't even think of using a condom," she said cruelly, "doesn't mean you'll make good parents. Selfish," she cried, pointing at both Quinn and Puck. "Both of you. Selfish. Give your child to someone who needs it, go back to being kids, both of you, before it's too late." With that, Sue Sylvester spun round and marched out of the bathroom.

The silence reigned for a long five minutes after Sue had left. "Well that was fun," Puck murmured sarcastically.

"She's right though," Quinn said quietly. "We should give the baby up for adoption," she added then looked into Puck's shocked eyes.

"Adoption?" Puck croaked, the word almost choking him. "Why?" he demanded, taking Quinn by the shoulders. "We can do this, we can be a family," he reminded her. Quinn didn't reply, she allowed Puck to haul her close, to hug her tight, she allowed the tears to fall on his shoulder and she allowed her mind to wander down the years, saw the sort of future they had, their little family, the struggle, the daily grind. Quinn cried even harder.

* * *

"Well, adoption is an option," Moya agreed as she picked up her coffee cup.

"Mom," Puck growled, his arms crossed over his chest, his scowl set in place. "It isn't an option, not in my mind," he muttered, slouching back to keep out of the conversation.

"What's 'doption?" Chloe asked with interest as she ate her dinner.

"What mom should have done with you when you were born," Puck hissed, still scowling.

"Noah," Moya cried. "It means that the baby wouldn't come home from the hospital with Noah and Quinn, she'd stay there and a new mommy and daddy would chose her and she'd go home with them, they'd be her family," she explained to Chloe. "Oh God, that is so not an option," Moya cried silently. "Don't do it, Quinn, please don't do that to my boy," she begged in her head but she kept her expression blank, she did not want to influence them either way.

"And what about us?" Chloe asked. "Would she come and visit us or would we go visit her?"

"No," Quinn said quietly, almost too quiet to be heard. "No, we wouldn't be able to see her at all, she wouldn't be a part of..." she broke off, not able to finish what she was saying.

"Please, Quinn," Puck begged, sitting forwards again and taking her hand. "Please don't do this, _please_," he implored.

* * *

Mercedes was so thankful for Quinn's input, her help and her unswerving friendship after Mercedes' little fainting episode. Quinn was so understanding, helped Mercedes to see the light, she even smoothed the way with her mom for her. Mercedes made a decision. Just one more time, this last time then that would be it. Sue Sylvester could swivel.

In full view of the entire school, centre of the basketball court, Mercedes opened her heart and let all of her emotions flow out. She encouraged others to make the statement with her. The second that Mercedes' beautiful, powerful voice began the song, Quinn felt the tiny piece of resentment that she'd harboured against Mercedes for getting on the Cheerios, melt away. As soon as she had finished the first verse Quinn stood and made her way to Mercedes' side, standing proudly with her hand on her bump, knowing that the stance made her daughter more pronounced, more visible.

"I am beautiful, no matter what they say," Mercedes sang, the joy in her heart restored as she saw her friends, the only people in the school who mattered to her, saw them stand up and join her. Mercedes felt a little tweak of something as Puck joined Quinn, standing slightly behind, beside her, his arm around her, his hand resting on top of Quinn's. The whole of the glee club gave their voices in harmony to enhance Mercedes' performance. The _entire_ school applauded and cheered such an emotional, honest display of true feeling and friendship.

* * *

"I need space, away from you," Quinn explained as she packed her things, throwing them haphazardly into an open suitcase. "I can't think when I'm around you," she admitted, "and you went out with Santana on Monday night, you think I can just forgive that?" she demanded. "You say you want us to be a family but you haven't done anything to prove that to me," she accused as she zipped up the case. "Mercedes is outside, I'll stay with her for a few days, try to get my head together, see ya," she mumbled then reached up to place a tearful kiss on his lips.

"Please," Puck whispered, his voice leaving him as he tried to keep from actually bursting into tears. "Quinn, please don't make any decisions, please don't do..." he couldn't carry on, his voice broke, the tears came anyway, he hadn't even managed to tell her he'd been with Finn on Monday night, not Santana. She could ask the coach of Vocal Gremlins or whatever the hell they called themselves, she knew where Puck and Finn had been on Monday. So did Mr Schue and Principal Figgins. Thank God they hadn't been suspended though, otherwise his mom would know too.

"I won't, I promise," Quinn said as she turned and stepped back into the room to him. She hugged Puck tight and kissed him again before leaving the room and hurrying downstairs.

"Let me take that for you," Mercedes said quietly as Quinn opened the door. "Are you sure you want to do this?" she asked before she pulled away in her mother's car.

"Yes, please, just drive," Quinn begged then sagged back in floods of tears.

* * *

"Frannie?" Quinn said nervously as her sister answered her phone.

"Quinn? Honey, is that you?" Frannie asked, sounding both frantic and relieved at the same time.

"Yes, it's me," Quinn replied with a laughing sob. "Have you got a minute, I need to talk," she asked.

"Sure, I've got all the time in the world, baby, what's wrong?" Frannie asked, settling down to help her baby sister through what she figured was probably her first serious boyfriend break up.

"I have a favour to ask," Quinn said through a tremuous breath.

"Sure,anything," Frannie agreed.

"Can I come and stay for the weekend?" Quinn asked Frannie.

"Of course, do you want Karl to come and pick you up after school tomorrow?" Frannie asked, knowing that her sister would not like to make the three and a half hour drive all by herself.

"That would be great," Quinn sighed with relief. "Errm, Frannie?" she added nervously.

"Yes, baby?" Frannie replied, she was already worrying, there was something scaring her in her sister's voice.

"Please don't be mad at me," Quinn whispered before she hung up. "Please, please don't abandon me like mom and dad have," she prayed through her tears. Quinn turned over and buried her face into the pillow in Mercedes' brother's bed, trying to be quiet, trying to keep her tears and torment to herself. Quinn cried herself to sleep, she still hadn't been able to come up with anything that made as much sense as Sue Sylvester's idea, but she didn't know if she could do it, if she could give birth to her child then just walk away. Quinn's fitful sleep showed on her face the next day.

**To be continued...**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Ownership is neither claimed nor implied.**

**A/N: From Funk to juvie, how will life work out? **

"Holy crap," Karl, Quinn's brother-in-law cried, the second he laid eyes on her on Friday afternoon. "I take it you haven't told Frannie yet?" he added, his eyes wide.

Quinn shook her head and bit both of her lips. "Think she'll be mad at me?" she asked, her nerves rising again.

"No. She'll want to smother you, she'll want to baby you, but she won't be mad at you," Karl assured Quinn with a hug. "She loves you, Quinnie." The drive to Louisville was uneventful, boring even. Quinn drifted off to sleep to the soft tones of Michael Buble crooning quietly from the stereo.

"Oh my God," Frannie breathed as she saw Quinn get out of the car. "Oh, baby, honey," she cried, dragging Quinn into a tearful, bone crushing hug. "Why didn't you tell me before? Is this why you haven't answered my calls? Why mom and dad are acting all weird?" she asked. "Every time I call and I ask about you or ask to talk to you they fob me off with some ridiculous bullshit," she grumbled. "I should have known something was up, nobody goes to that many cheer events and parties," she said with a dismissive roll of her eyes.

"Dad threw me out months ago," Quinn replied into her sister's shoulder. "Oh Frannie, it's been such a mess, I've been so scared, so confused," she cried, sobbing hard, the emotions that she had held in so tightly all came flooding out.

"Shh, come on now, I'll take care of you, it's all ok, come on now," Frannie soothed, murmuring over and over, one hand rubbing Quinn's back as the other stroked her head, her only thought to give her little sister comfort.

Karl led the way inside, carrying Quinn's small weekend bag. "So where have you been staying if Russell threw you out months ago?" he asked, wondering how the hell that man could call himself a christian. "And where's the boyfriend? Tim, is it?"

"Finn," Quinn corrected, knowing that's who he meant. "I was with Finn, but he's not the father," she admitted, remembering that for the first time in months, she'd have to go through the whole story. "...so that's it, Puck doesn't want to give her up but I don't know if I can trust him to be there for us, to man up," she said, finally running out of words and tissues.

"Well, what about an alternative to adoption?" Karl asked, looking at his wife. "What about an aunt and uncle taking care of your baby till you've finished school, then maybe you could come here to Kentucky for college?" he suggested, hoping that the shell-shocked look on his wife's face wasn't a veto to his idea.

Quinn looked at Karl, her mouth open, her chin on her chest. "You-you'd do that for me?" she asked, disbelief in her voice. "But I don't have any money, I can't contribute to her upkeep, I can't," she stopped talking as her baby made her presence felt. "It hurts like hell when she does that," she semi grumbled.

"Can I feel?" Frannie asked nervously, her hands hovering near her sister's large stomach. "We've been trying for three years, nothing's happened yet, we tried IVF, it didn't work," Frannie shrugged, "we've had test after test after test, apparently there's nothing wrong," she said, almost breaking down again. "All the specialists can advise is to relax, let things happen naturally. Someone from church recommended that we adopt, she said that's what she and her husband did and within a year they'd had another baby too, maybe this is the way to do it, you could be helping us in ways that no one else has been able to," she said with a half happy, half sad smile.

Quinn stayed silent for a few minutes. "Are you sure?" she asked, almost afraid to believe. "Any second now I'm going to wake up and I'll be in the library instead of gym class," she muttered.

"You're not in Lima anymore, Dorothy," Karl answered, teasing a little, "you can try and click your heels together but I think you're stuck here till I drive you home on Sunday," he said hugging Quinn close. "And yes, we can do this, right?" he said, nodding at Frannie for her agreement.

"Yes we can," Frannie grinned. "Aunt Frannie," she cried in excitement, her shoulders shrugging right up to her ears. "Right, go call Puck, you need his agreement, it might be better if he comes for the weekend too, so that we can thrash things out properly, ok?" she suggested.

Quinn checked the time. "They should be back from Temple by now," she muttered to herself. "Oh, did I forget to mention that? Puck's Jewish," she explained as she pressed number one on her speed dial. "Hey," she said softly as her call was answered. "I'm with my sister," she answered the frantic question of where the hell was she.

"What the hell are you doing there?" Puck cried, he couldn't remember exactly where Quinn had said her sister lived, but he knew it was a fair distance away. He'd freaked out like a little girl watching a scary movie when he'd called at Mercedes' house just a few minutes ago only to be told by Mrs Jones that Quinn had left town for the weekend.

"That's not important right now," Quinn dismissed his question. "What is important is, can you come here, tonight?" she asked.

"Why?" Puck asked, confused, did she want to come home? Was her head sorted out now? Were they going to be a family?

"Because Karl and Frannie have a proposition for us, but you need to be here too," Quinn explained.

"Tell me now, I can't drive all that way worrying about this, just tell me now then I'll set off," Puck bargained.

"Well, my sister and her husband have offered us a third option," Quinn explained. "They will take care of the baby for us until we're done with school, then I can come here to Louisville to college, all supposing I get in of course," she muttered the last part. "But if Frannie and Karl take her for us, it won't be an adoption, it will be an informal arrangement, we will still be her parents, they'll be her aunt and uncle, it's a great option," she enthused.

Puck swallowed a couple of times while he tried to process the information. "Mom, I'm going to Louisville," he shouted, forgetting that his phone was still in his hand, forgetting that Quinn was still on the other end of the line.

"Kentucky?" Moya asked, puzzled. "You're going to Kentucky? What's in Kentucky?" she asked.

"Not what, who," Puck corrected. "Quinn. Quinn is in Kentucky. At her sister's house, they have another option for us," he explained briefly. "Quinn, can you call the house and explain it to my mom? I'm setting off right now, I'll see you in a few hours, I'll call for directions when I hit Louisville, ok?" he said as he threw a few items of clothing and the charger for his phone into a backpack. "Mom, I'll see you on Sunday, ok? Bye," he called as he almost ran out the door.

* * *

"So it wouldn't be an actual adoption? We'll get her back when we graduate high school?" Puck asked, really unsure how this would all work. "And she won't think of you two as her parents? You'll just be her aunt and uncle? You'll call yourselves that?" he clarified, Karl nodded again. "I don't know Quinn, like how is she supposed to know us if she lives three hours away from us?" he asked.

"Skype," Karl suggested as he passed Puck another bottle of beer. "You can Skype every day, keep in touch that way, visually, you can visit every weekend," he added then glanced around his home. "We have plenty of room, your mom and sister can visit too," he said with a shrug. "We can visit Lima as well," he listed idea after idea, Karl seemed determined to make it work out for them.

"I don't get it," Puck said, feeling more and more confused. "What's in it for you?" he asked Karl.

"Nothing, just the knowledge that I'm doing my bit to save a child going through what I went through," Karl replied. "I was adopted," he explained when he saw that Puck was truly puzzled, "and my experience wasn't a fantastic one, not that I'm saying all adoptions are bad, I'm not, but mine wasn't great," he said, smiling tightly at Frannie who gave him a smile and a nod in support. "The whole horrible story is that my birth mother was thirteen years old when she had me, she'd been very naive, some guy had taken advantage of her, she never gave his name. Basically, she was forced into the adoption by overbearing parents, she then went off the rails and tried to get me back when I was about two years old. She made herself invaluable to my parents, became my baby sitter and after a while, after she'd gained their trust, she planted all sorts of stuff around the house then called CPS claiming that my parents weren't fit to have me, she accused my dad of molesting her, said he was my birth father," he said then bit his lip. "I got lost in the system for a while then my parents got me back when it was proved that she'd lied about it all. My dad never really got over it, never got over the shame of the court case, he never felt like he could love me properly, like people would think if he did, he really must have been the one, it was awful," Karl told them. "If it was ever in my power to save a kid from that, I'd do it in a heartbeat," he added quietly. He looked at Quinn's teary face, at Puck's compassionate one. "You don't have to decide right now, and I promise, if you decide to keep her, we won't feel slighted or insulted, we'll still be Aunt Frannie and Uncle Karl," he assured them.

Frannie stood up and walked towards Quinn. "You look really tired, do you want to go to bed?" she asked, lifting Quinn's face to see her eyes more clearly. "We don't mind if you share," she said with a grin, seeing an answering grin on Puck's face. "It is the weekend after all," she added with a wink, Quinn had explained everything that had happened over the last seven and a half months.

"Well, we do need to talk," Quinn murmured to Puck as she stood up.

Puck stood up too and passed his empty bottle to Karl. "Yeah," he acknowledged, "we do have a lot to discuss. Thank you, both of you," he said to Frannie and Karl, and he meant it with the utmost sincerity.

* * *

"Don't go getting any ideas," Quinn semi teased as she came back from the bathroom. "I hope you brought something to sleep in," she said with a pointed glance at his groin area.

"Chill, I've got my boxers on," Puck replied with a smile. He was sat up, resting against the headboard of the comfortable double bed in Frannie and Karl's guest room. "Not that it would matter," he muttered, "you've seen it all before."

"But that was when we were in a defined relationship," Quinn countered quickly. "Now I don't know what we are," she added sadly.

"Regardless of anything else," Puck said, leaning forwards a little to take Quinn's hand, "I hope we'll always be friends."

"I think that would be good, it would be nice," Quinn agreed. "If we can't work out a relationship, I would like to be your friend. Especially if we are going to be parents together in the future," she said with a nervous smile. Quinn sat down on the bed facing Puck, her hand still held in his. "Do you think it would work?" she asked, her eyes almost pleading with him to say that it would.

"You know my first choice is to keep her, keep her with us," Puck sighed, "but I understand if you want to go for your sister's option," he told her honestly. "I'm not going to lie to you, I think it would be as hard as if she'd really been adopted, she'll be miles away from us, it just seems weird," he finished, realising how ungrateful he sounded, he really didn't mean to.

"I know, but if we do it this way, at least we'll have a say, we'll be able to see her, be with her whenever we can," Quinn reminded him. "Maybe we can even get jobs here, you know, maybe weekend or holiday jobs," she suggested, trying to think of ways to contribute, to make it so that if Frannie and Karl did make this wonderful sacrifice for them, then at least they could show that they were trying to help.

* * *

"Hi Noah, it's your mom, call me back when you hear this message, it's important." Puck listened to his messages and then played the one from his mom again for Quinn. "What do you think she means?" Puck asked Quinn.

"That it's important," Quinn replied as though Puck were stupid. He gave her a look, _the _look. "Well, it was a damn stupid question," she defended herself. "Call her, ask," she advised.

"Hi mom, it's me," Puck said as his call was answered, he was still sat cross-legged in the middle of the bed, glaring at Quinn. Quinn buried her face in the pillows, lying as far over onto her stomach as she could. "Ok, I'll tell her," he said after he'd listened intently to whatever his mom was saying. "Ok, so my mom talked with one of the lawyers from her office, the benefit of having a mom who is a paralegal," he smirked. "She says that we can get an agreement drawn up that will protect our parental rights," he explained. "That's exactly what Karl suggested last night though, so it's nothing new to think about," he reminded her.

"The more I think about it, the more I like the idea," Quinn admitted. "I like that we will still be able to have a choice in her future, I really don't want to give her up," she said quietly, a little tearfully.

* * *

During the long drive back to Lima on Sunday afternoon, Puck and Quinn defined their friendship even more. "I really think a relationship with you is doomed because you'll never be able to stay faithful to one person," Quinn told Puck, entirely without blame, entirely without malice, she was just stating facts.

"You know the really crappy part?" Puck sighed. "I can't argue with that, you're probably right," he agreed. "So where does that leave us?" he asked.

"If it's ok with you and your mom, I'll come back to your house, but I think you should stay in the attic room, I don't think we should blur the lines again," Quinn replied thoughtfully.

"I can live with that," Puck nodded. "And I promise, I won't bring girls over, I'll see them out of the house, deal?" he asked.

"Deal," Quinn agreed. "And when I do start dating again, I'll do the same," she offered then stretched over to kiss Puck's cheek. "With guys, obviously, not girls," she laughed.

Puck didn't turn to look at Quinn, he fixed his eyes on the road, his fingers tightened round the steering wheel just a touch. When she started dating again? Where the hell did that idea come from? She couldn't start dating, she'd be a mother. Puck took a deep breath and tried to keep himself calm, he recognised the knot of jealousy for what it was, not that he'd ever admit to it, he was way cooler than that.

* * *

"Are you sure this is what you want to do?" Mercedes asked Quinn, giving her a gentle hug. "You know you're welcome to stay here for as long as you want," she reminded her.

"I know, and thank you so much," Quinn replied. "My head is clear now, I know what we're going to do, I know where we both stand and it's not confused by a stupid attempt at a relationship that can only fail," she shrugged. "We were never meant to be together," she admitted a touch sadly. "We were accidentally thrust into an emotionally charged situation that then grew out of control when we added sex into the mix."

"Well, it certainly sounds like you've done a lot of thinking, a lot of figuring out, the trip to your sister's was good for you," Mercedes said with another hug. "And did Puck tell you about his punishment yet?" she asked.

"No, what punishment, for what?" Quinn asked, wondering if the open-heart talks all through the weekend were just mocking lip service from him. She'd opened up and told him everything, apparently that didn't work both ways.

"Puck and Finn have to work at Sheets 'n' Things to pay for the tires they slashed on Vocal Adrenaline's cars last week," Mercedes informed Quinn, wondering why Puck hadn't told her. Quinn looked confused. "Last week? Monday night? After the TP incident?" Mercedes suggested, offering hints to Quinn. "He and Finn went out on Monday night and slashed the tires," she explained.

"What?" Quinn cried, sitting down heavily on the bed she'd slept in during her stay. "What? I...what?" she asked, she didn't know what the hell was going on. How was causing damage to other people's vehicles being a responsible person? How the hell was she going to co-parent with this stupid, irresponsible, sex freak asshole? "God, he makes me so mad," she ground out through clenched teeth. "This whole weekend, he could have told me about that, he could have explained where he was last Monday night but he didn't, he conveniently forgot to remind me that he's an asshole," she hissed crossly. "But at least he wasn't with Santana," a little voice inside her head whispered.

Mercedes shifted uncomfortably. For a second, she wondered if Quinn was going to unpack again and stay here in her brother's bedroom. Quinn sighed and stood up, thrusting things into the suitcase, ramming them in angrily. "Guess not," Mercedes thought.

* * *

Mr Schue's pizza party was an uncomfortable, miserable affair. No one had the energy to be happy, everyone felt like it was the wake before the funeral, the death knell already being tolled by Coach Sylvester. No way would she allow New Directions to win or even place, not if it meant she couldn't have her full budget restored. Everyone was really, really down, even the pizza tasted drab, dreary, it was like the light had been sucked out of everything, they were all fumbling round in the grip of a crippling depression.

"Come on guys," Mr Schue tried desperately to encourage them. "We have to get out of this funk, we have to rise above it," he advised. "I have an idea," he said, looking at all the sad faces in front of him. "I say we ditch the songs we had, everything we practiced and we go with something new," he suggested then waited for the question.

"Go with what Mr Schue?" Rachel asked, the only one tempted enough to ask.

"A medley," Mr Schue replied with a grin, "a Journey medley," he finished triumphantly. "Because this year, it has been a journey, it's been an epic journey and we've made it, we've come through, let's show them all how."

* * *

"Hey, are you sure you're ok?" Puck asked quietly as they brought up the rear on the way to take their places on stage. "You seemed to be holding your side a lot in there," he said suspiciously.

"I'm fine," Quinn replied breathlessly then blew the wisps of hair from her face. Puck looked at her with one eyebrow up, a move that Quinn had made so many times, the one that usually forced him to confess to whatever lie he was trying to tell to get out of trouble. "Really, I'm fine," she insisted, although she couldn't make eye contact with him.

"Just know that I'm watching you, and for the most part we're dancing together, don't forget," Puck reminded Quinn. "If there's anything I need to know, I think you should tell me now," he said, aware that their team mates, who were already in place on stage, were looking at them in the wings and motioning for them to hurry to their positions, Finn and Rachel were almost at the part of the song where the curtain would rise.

Quinn gulped and forced herself to take a few calming breaths. "I think I'm in labour," she admitted and winced as another pain tore through her. "It's not too bad right now, it's not regular but it's more intense than I ever thought possible," she said with a nervous, shaky laugh.

Puck couldn't speak as they had to get in place and begin the harmonies to the first part of their Journey tribute. Throughout their performance, Puck kept his eye on Quinn, he hoped that no one else noticed. As Don't Stop was coming to a close, the choreography called for Puck to cross to the right hand side of the stage right next to Quinn. He took the opportunity to check. "Ok?" he murmured.

"Mmm," Quinn replied with tears in her eyes as her hand briefly rested on his shoulder. "Oh my God, ohmygodohmygodohmygod," she thought to herself and only the years of gymnastics training and of being subjected to Coach Sylvester's particular brand of torture, stopped her from actually crying out or sinking to the floor.

"Just a couple more minutes," Puck muttered through the side of his mouth, "then we're out of here," he said encouragingly.

"That's not actually making me feel any better," Quinn realised. "Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap oh fuck," she screamed inside her head while holding her smile in place.

As the curtain fell, Puck whisked Quinn past everyone still congratulating each other on stage. "Where are you taking me?" Quinn mumbled, even to her own ears she sounded like a petulant five-year old.

"At the very least you need to lie down, we need to get you to a doctor," Puck said, sounding almost frantic. "We have to call yo...oh my God, it's your mother," he whispered, seeing Judy Fabray waiting at the dressing room door.

"Quinnie," Judy breathed as she saw her daughter for the first time in months. "You look beautiful," she croaked, tears dripping down her face.

"Look, Mrs Fabray, it's good that you want to catch up and stuff, but Quinn's..." Puck started to say.

"Fine, Quinn's fine," Quinn butted in, aiming a kick at Puck's ankle.

"I'm glad you are sweetie and I'm here to ask you to come home, we can make a nursery in one of the guest rooms," Judy offered in a rush of words, her nerves over taking her caution. "Your father wants you to come home," she added, giving Quinn's hand a gentle squeeze. They all stood looking at each other, wondering who would be the one to speak first. Judy couldn't stand it. "Oh sweetie, say something," she encouraged.

"My water just broke," Quinn whispered in surprise. Puck jumped into action straight away, adrenaline taking over and honing his actions, his responses, his sensitivity to Quinn's situation.

In no time at all Puck had delivered Quinn to the maternity suite at Lima Memorial and they were both gowned up. At Quinn's request, Mercedes had accompanied them and was gowned up too. By default and the flashing of Quinn's insurance card, Judy Fabray was gowned up and in the room too, taking possession of one of Quinn's hands. Quinn grabbed at Mercedes with her other hand, taking comfort from her. Puck felt pushed out, left out, to the side, shoved away from everything except for Quinn's vicious tongue when the pain got the better of her and she started screaming obscenities at him, telling him exactly what she thought of him and his parentage.

"She doesn't mean a word of it," a cute little nurse assured Puck. "It's the drugs and the pain talking," she advised with confidence. "Once that beautiful little creature is out of her, she'll love you all over again," she said with a wink.

Quinn overheard a little of what the nurse said. "Love him again?" she asked herself. "Never coming, never," she growled gripping on to her mom and Mercedes. She didn't want their reassurances that the baby would come eventually, no, she had to stay there, inside where it was safe, where nothing could touch her or disappoint her, where her daddy couldn't let her down. Ever. Quinn burst into a fresh bout of tears, screaming and yelling as the baby fought her way out.

Quinn felt herself adrift, out of step with the world the instant she laid eyes on her baby. It was as if everything was continuing around her, but she was removed from it all, just herself and the baby inside a bubble, just the two of them. Quinn caught Puck's eye over the top of the baby's head. He was crying, emotion totally encompassing him and he didn't care who saw it. Quinn had no idea how much time had passed, it was possibly only seconds but in that time, in that instant, their eyes connected and something new was forged. They weren't just friends any longer, they weren't just lovers, they were parents.

* * *

Quinn glanced round at all the other babies in the nursery. "They're all right I suppose," she muttered to her baby. "They aren't beautiful like you though, you are so beautiful and so special," she whispered then looked around guiltily to see if anyone had heard her when she realised she'd said it out loud.

"Hey," Puck said quietly, appearing at her side. "I bought her this," he said self-consciously, shrugging, a little embarrassed as he handed over a little fleecy stuffed lamb to Quinn.

"I had one just like this," Quinn whispered, holding the lamb to her cheek for a second, then looking at it again.

"I know," Puck nodded, looking at the baby rather than at Quinn. "I remember it being on your bed, on your pillow, you know? When we..." he said, nodding towards the plastic crib.

"I get it," Quinn broke in, cutting off Puck's words.

"Hi," Frannie cried, coming up behind Quinn. "Oh honey, she is so beautiful," she whispered, in awe of the little angel laid sleeping in front of them.

"Congratulations," Karl murmured, stooping to kiss Quinn's cheek and to shake Puck's hand.

"Which one is yours?" a new voice asked. Quinn glanced to her side, surprised to see the coach of one of their rivals beside her. "Oh I see her now," Shelby Corcoran said with a smile. "Does she have a name?" she asked.

Quinn wanted to reply but she couldn't speak. Now that she was faced with it, with someone showing an obvious interest in her baby, telegraphing with the predatory smile that she wanted this baby at all costs, Quinn knew that she couldn't even contemplate it. She tried again to open her mouth, she wanted to say the name that Puck had asked they call her. "No," Quinn said suddenly, the only word that would come out of her mouth despite her brain screaming "Beth" at her. Quinn knew the word 'no' related to the hunger that she could see in Shelby Corcoran's eyes, the want, the need. "Want all you like, lady," Quinn vowed silently, "you aren't getting your hands on my baby."

"Beth," Puck forced out, like he'd almost had to shout to get his voice to work. He looked at Quinn in just a little disgust. Why had she answered no? She knew they were going to call the baby Beth, she had agreed to it when he sang to her, when he apologised to her for being an idiot and a selfish dick.

"Have you made up your mind?" Frannie asked from the other side of Puck. "I know dad has said you're to go home and that they'll create a nursery for her but," she sighed, aware as much as Quinn that the only reason he'd had the startling change of mind was because Frannie and Karl were willing to help Quinn. "Please don't go there," Frannie begged quietly, knowing how their dad's cruel tongue could sap a person's confidence, drag them to a bitter, dark place. "But even if you feel you must, please don't take this baby there for him to ignore or shout at," she pleaded. "Let me take her for you, just till you're done with school, then you can make the decision, ok?"

"Ok," Quinn whispered with a tearful nod to her sister. "Ok," she repeated more firmly as she sniffed back the tears. Puck sagged with relief as did Frannie. Shelby Corcoran sagged with disappointment.

"Thank you," Puck sighed into Quinn's hair, he breathed deeply with his eyes closed, he hoped the tears that were stinging in his eyes wouldn't actually fall. He was so relieved, he'd thought for a second, just for a second, that she was going to give the baby to Shelby Corcoran, maybe Shelby thought she was still owed something, maybe she thought that Puck hadn't paid enough, maybe she thought taking his firstborn was suitable recompense for a few lousy tires, despite the cash that he and Finn had stumped up.

* * *

"I know you only have this week of school left then you're out for the summer," Frannie said as she sat on Quinn's bed beside her, both of them peering into the plastic crib that Beth lay in, sleeping soundly, oblivious to the people around her. "Will you actually go in to school, do you think?" she asked.

"No, I've been permitted the week off," Quinn replied and adjusted Beth's blanket again. "I think, for the summer, we'll keep her at home, get to know her, let her get to know us, then before school starts again in September, we'll bring her to you to get settled in," Quinn decided suddenly, making her mind up without any consultation with anyone else.

"Cool," Puck sighed, his trembling hands stuffed in his pockets to hide his nerves.

"You'll have to go shopping, we don't have anything for her," Quinn directed, suddenly realising that this was going to be huge. Expensive and huge. Puck was horror-struck, he had no idea what they would need to buy.

"I'll go with him," Frannie offered, noting the relief on Puck's face at her words.

"Quinnie, you can come home," Judy repeated her earlier statement. "I'm sure that...he...will be acceptable too," she added with a wince of distaste.

"Mom, please don't insult the father of my child," Quinn stated, "the father of your first grandchild," she added with a little squeeze of Frannie's hand, she really didn't want to upset Frannie, but she had to make Judy realise that Puck was a fixture in her life for the next twenty years or so, whether they made a relationship for themselves or not.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch your name earlier, there was far too much going on," Judy Fabray lied.

"Noah Puckerman," Puck stated, playing along with the lie so that Quinn would calm down.

"Thank you, Noah," Judy said with an insincere smile that barely touched her lips never mind her eyes. "I'm sure that you will be welcomed too," she said with saccharine sweetness.

"Hello," Moya Puckerman said with a smile as she stuck her head round the door. "May we come in?" she asked.

"Of course," Quinn answered with a grin and a wave at Chloe. "Come and meet Beth," she invited.

* * *

"So that's where we're at right now," Puck sighed, laid on his back in the back of his truck, staring up at the starry sky, talking to his deceased grandpa, hoping for some sort of divine inspiration, maybe intervention, something that might make Quinn change her mind, keep the baby with them instead of sending her to Kentucky. "I wish you could have met her, Grandpa, I know she's just a week old but God," he sighed, "she's so amazing, she's so beautiful, she looks just like Quinn, I wish you could have met her too, I know she thinks I don't love her, she thinks I'm just an idiot, but I do, she's awesome and she knows just what she's supposed to do with the baby," he said aloud, still talking to the clouds. "I mean, _I_ have no idea, I just do what they tell me, warm up her bottle when they tell me, change her diaper if I have to, but jeez, she's just so damn beautiful," he sighed. "And I better go, Quinn sent me out an hour ago for diapers, but I'll be back Grandpa, maybe I'll bring Beth, you know, when she's a little older."

* * *

"Oh God, Frannie," Quinn cried into her sister's shoulder the weekend before school started. "This is so much harder than I thought it was going to be, I don't," she stopped and gulped. "I don't know if I can leave her," she wailed.

Karl looked over with sad eyes, rocking Beth gently in his arms as she stared up at her uncle. "So stay here, change school, transfer," he suggested.

"What about me?" Puck cried. "I can't just up and leave, my mom relies on me to watch my sister till she gets home from work."

"No, I can't," Quinn sighed, getting herself together. "Dad already mentioned something about that, about me being a minor and them _allowing_ me to stay with Puck but not actually being emancipated," she explained.

"But he's ok with you not moving back home, right?" Frannie asked, concerned again for her sister.

"Yep, I think he just doesn't want to look at me, see the disappointment that I turned into," Quinn said in an incredibly fake cheery voice.

"Well I'm happy that you're still at my house," Puck murmured as he reached for one last cuddle with Beth before they had to get on the road. "Bye, baby," he whispered. "See you on Friday."

"Moya's even excusing him from Temple on Friday so we can get here sooner but he has to find one locally for Saturday morning, he gets to watch Beth on his own while we go to church on Sunday morning before we set off back to Lima," Quinn explained. "It's her only conditions," she shrugged, taking her turn with Beth too. "Take care of her for me," she whispered into Frannie's shoulder, the baby held between them. "Don't let her forget us," she begged tearfully as she climbed back into the truck. "Go, just go. Drive," she cried as Puck looked back too.

Quinn cried herself to sleep on the drive home. Puck pulled over as soon as he knew she was out for the count and got out to do some crying of his own. Quinn woke when he shut the door again after climbing back into the truck. "Is everything ok?" she asked huskily, her voice croaky from all the tears.

"Yeah, I just needed a minute," Puck replied and sniffed back even more emotion.

Quinn reached out and gave his knee a little squeeze, her eyes flooding again as they both tried hard to smile at each other. "It'll get easier," Quinn sighed, hopeful that she was right. The rest of the drive passed in near silence, both of them consumed by their own thoughts, neither able to voice them.

* * *

"Are you asleep?" Quinn whispered into the darkness.

"No," Puck replied. "Can't you sleep either?" he asked.

Quinn shook her head even though she knew he couldn't see her. "Can I get in with you?" she asked, her voice wobbling as though she was about to burst into tears again.

"Sure," Puck sighed and lifted the covers for her to get in beside him.

"God, no wonder you miss your bed," Quinn muttered with a wince as she found a particularly lumpy part of the mattress. They lay in silence for a while, not touching, barely breathing, the only noise was when one or other of them shifted and the stiff cotton rasped against their skin. "Should we go downstairs to my room?" Quinn asked suddenly.

"Absolutely," Puck replied before Quinn had even finished asking the question. Down on the second floor, in Quinn's (Puck's) far comfier bed, Puck and Quinn snuggled up together. Puck felt Quinn's fingers tease his ear, rake through the stubbly growth of hair on the side of his head, felt her rock against him a little. "What are you doing?" he asked, pulling away from her a touch. "I thought we agreed?" he reminded Quinn, feeling his body twitch in answer to her unspoken demands. "No funny business," he said with a smile to take the sting out of his words.

"I know," Quinn sighed quietly, her lips almost touching his. "This isn't funny at all," she murmured then closed the gap, her tongue finding it's way between his barely parted lips to stroke his quivering tongue.

Puck's eyes drifted closed, he moaned and his arms tightened around Quinn. "This is just tonight, right?" he asked, he needed to make sure where he stood, make sure he was still free to pursue other girls.

"Just tonight," Quinn agreed, closing the gap again. Puck rose up over her, reaching for the drawer on the nightstand. "What are you looking for?" she asked.

"Condom," Puck almost grunted, surprised he'd even been able to voice that much. "Can't forget that again," he insisted. Quinn agreed and quickly found what he was looking for, she'd moved his stash to make space for a couple of romantic novels she'd never actually got round to reading. They both fell asleep afterwards, worn out by the emotional upheaval and the stress of the day.

* * *

"Is it true you're suffering from a cripling depression since your break up with Miss Fabray?" Jacob ben Israel asked the mocking question as Puck sat in the locker room contemplating life, love and loss.

"No, I'm depressed because my daughter woke up in fucking Kentucky this morning," Puck answered the question in his head, looking at Jacob as if he'd just fallen to earth from somewhere strictly alien. Puck remained broodingly silent.

"And is it also true that you had a vasectomy to prevent any more unwanted pregnancies?" Jacob added, grinning at the camera, almost daring Puck to punch his lights out.

"Where does this dickwad get his information from?" Puck thought. "No girl is ever going to trust me again, I'm never going to get laid again if they all think I might get them pregnant. No way am I going through that again, that's for fucking sure. Quinn knows the truth, that's enough for now," he thought in a split second so decided to answer. "Yes, it's true," Puck lied, staring straight at the camera. "It was the responsible thing to do," he added with a hint of his trademark smirk. "Resist that, bitches," Puck thought, "Puckasaurus needs to get laid. A lot," he sighed, his thoughts whirling round his head.

Jacob caught up with Quinn at her locker, she glanced around looking for Puck as she stumblingly answered the exceedingly personal and probing questions. Over Jacob's shoulder she caught sight of Puck with his arms folded, giving Jacob an evil stare, his eyes surely must have been burning holes into the back of Jacob's head. "Ask me that again if you dare, fuck face," Quinn hissed the instant Jacob dropped his microphone to his side.

"What did you do with all that breast milk?" Jacob repeated his question with a malicious look on his face, lifting his microphone again, aiming it at Quinn.

"You really want a fucking wedgie?" Puck asked. "You really want me to shove you up that pole?" he demanded. "No fucking problem," he growled as he hoisted Jacob over his shoulder, heading towards the flagpole at the front of the school.

* * *

"Has anyone seen Jacob?" Tina asked as the class settled in the choir room. "Everyone's been looking for him, he only spoke to a few people this morning, you know, his usual what did you do this summer thing?" she queried.

"Errm, I _might_ know where he is but it all depends," Puck grinned, looking extremely satisfied with himself.

"Depends on what?" Mr Schue asked nervously, suspiciously.

"On whether it's going to get me in trouble or not," Puck replied, rocking in his seat. "If you can promise me immunity, I can tell you where he is," he grinned.

"Ok, you have immunity," Mr Schue promised. "Now where is Jacob?" he asked.

"Check the flagpole," Puck replied, barely stemming the laughter. A sudden rush of bodies from the choir room left only Puck and Quinn.

"You didn't," Quinn hissed. "Do you want to get expelled?"

"He shouldn't try to embarrass you, he shouldn't ask questions like he does, and he shouldn't ever have called Beth a bastard child," Puck explained, his voice turning hard as he repeated Jacob's derogatory comment about their daughter.

"I get it, you're just defending me, defending our baby, but if you keep doing things like that people are going to think we're still together," Quinn sighed, reaching out for Puck's hand. Puck pulled an I'm sorry pout and took the hand that Quinn held out and sighed as he brought her close to his body. "And get your hands off my ass," she said with a laugh just before she allowed her lips to touch his smiling ones. "But seriously," she whispered. "Thank you."

* * *

"Walk away and tighten up your pony before you get to class," Quinn screeched at Santana's retreating back. "You can let me go now, Mr Schue," she told her teacher, she was still breathing heavily, her blood was still literally boiling, but at least she was back on top. Back on top of the pyramid, back on top of her game, head cheerleader. Head bitch. "Suck it up, all you other bitches," she thought, allowing her almost murderous eyes to follow Santana's journey down the corridor.

* * *

"I cannot believe you tried out for the Cheerios," Puck cried as he drove them home after school. "Don't you think that being a cheerleader caused you enough trouble before?" he demanded, remembering the day he found her, crying, devastated and totally demoralised because Coach Sylvester had called her fat. He remembered that day like it was yesterday, he remembered it in glorious technicolour and surround sound. Oh God, he loved that day.

"But I thought you liked to see the girls in these tiny skirts," Quinn flirted, flipping the hem of her skirt at Puck as he drove.

"Fuck, don't do that again," Puck gulped, almost driving off the road. Puck determindly kept his eyes on the road, but out of the corner of his eye he saw Quinn prop her white sneakered feet up on the dash, he knew if he glanced to his right he would be able to see right up her skirt to her regulation red spankies, he knew she was allowing her left leg to move back and forth deliberately, he knew she was doing this to entice him, to torture him. "Fuck it," he growled and changed direction, suddenly veering off, he knew where he could find them some privacy.

"Where are we going?" Quinn asked, pretending disinterest when in reality her body was on fire.

"Somewhere we can take care of this," Puck grunted and grabbed her hand thrusting it to his crotch. "And when we're done, that's it, we aren't doing this again, so you can stop flirting, stop coming to my room, just let me..." he broke off as he found the secluded spot he was aiming for. Puck threw the truck into park and cut off the engine. "Come here," he sighed as he pulled Quinn towards him. Within seconds they'd jiggled enough clothes and underwear to join together. "Glove box," he growled, Quinn's lips almost touching his, their breaths mixing together. "Quick," he demanded. Quinn leaned back and found what he needed, handing him a condom. They didn't last long.

"Just so we're clear," Quinn panted as they both eased down, regained their breath, "this isn't going to happen again," she insisted.

"Yeah," Puck agreed, his voice barely there through the need to drag in giant breaths, his body still trembled, he felt another squeeze from her, his flesh answered with another jerk inside her. For a second, Puck gripped Quinn's hips and pressed her tight into him, looking up into her eyes as she sat, mounted, impaled on him. "We aren't doing this again," he insisted to Quinn's whispered agreement. "Just one more time," he sighed into her mouth as he found another condom.

* * *

"Santana, I'm sorry, the weekend is out," Puck said once again. "Straight after school on Friday we are heading for Louisville, we'll be back Sunday night, that's going to be every weekend," he informed her with a shrug. "If you want to get together to do something that's cool, but not on the weekends."

"Why do you have to go _every_ weekend?" Santana whined. "Can't Quinn go alone this weekend? There's a party at Azimio's and as the coolest member of the football team and the coolest member of the cheerios, it's our duty to go to that party and have sex somewhere random in his house," she finished with a mischeivous pout.

"I would love to go somewhere random and have sex with you right now," Puck sighed, feeling his body tighten just at the thought, "but the weekend is reserved for Beth for the foreseeable future, I'm sorry if you don't like it but that's the way it is," he said and walked away.

"Fine, Thursday night, your place," Santana shouted after him, a scowl on her face.

"Sorry," Puck said, turning round and giving her a sad smile. "I promised Quinn I wouldn't do that at home, same as she won't either, it'll have to be at yours," he countered, still walking backwards, away from her.

"My abuela is staying over for the week while her house is painted, you can't come over," Santana cried.

"Then it's off, sorry," Puck called as he turned the corner. "Ah, fuck," he sighed. "Surely there's got to be some place we can go, me and Qui...crap, Santana. I meant Santana. Santana, Santana, Santana, Santana, shit don't get that wrong during, or she _will_ rip your balls off," he told himself, shocked at his own mental slip.

* * *

"I don't see why you should be dancing together," Santana said for the fifth time as they did their final rehearsal for the Britney Spears number. "We all know you're not together," she said, folding her arms and taking a deliberately defensive stance.

"And the only people we've been able to practice with all weekend is each other," Quinn reminded the team. "We've been in Louisville all weekend, how are we supposed to do anything else but practice with each other?" she demanded. Santana couldn't answer, she growled and sat down. "And we know we're not together," Quinn added as she sat down too. Although on Saturday night they had taken the edge off for each other, they'd had to, all that suggestive dancing had had an effect on them, it was only natural that they'd be hyper aware of each other once they climbed into bed together. They'd been quite circumspect, they didn't have access to any condoms so they'd very wisely stuck to using hands and mouths to make each other feel good. Quite a few times, actually. The drive home on Sunday was a different matter, they'd had to stop for gas and for Quinn to use the restroom.

"Errm, do you still, erm," Puck stuttered, rolling his eyes at himself for sounding so unsure. "Here, just in case," he muttered and slapped a pack of condoms into Quinn's hand.

"Oh," Quinn gulped, surprised. She swallowed with difficulty. "Here," she muttered and thrust an even bigger box of condoms at Puck. "Well, you never know," she mumbled, embarrassed, squirming in her seat. Puck started to laugh, just a little, he tried to muffle the giggle, then it broke free, Quinn laughed with him. "Let's go find somewhere," she whispered into his neck, just below his ear. Puck happily obliged.

* * *

"Congrats, Finn," Quinn said brightly with a beaming smile as Finn rifled through his locker for books. He started and turned to look at her just a little mistrustully. "You're back on the team, I'm head cheerleader again," she explained, giving him her super flirty smile, "some kind of symetary, don't you think?" she asked then moved on quickly before he could answer. "With all the nastiness between you and I behind us," she said, feigning innocence, "I think we should be together, we'd be a shoo in for homecoming king and queen, so what do you say? You and me? Eight o'clock? Breadstix?" she asked, giving Finn her total focus, all of her attention, she moved around a little, her body quite sensuous in her tiny red and white uniform , she leaned against the locker to wait for Finn's answer.

"Look, I'd be lying if I said I didn't have feelings for you," Finn admitted, "probably always will," he added softly, almost to himself, as he closed his locker firmly, getting a grip on his emotions. "But I'm not going to get back together with you," he told Quinn and saw her cast her eyes down. "There's someone else, and you know who that is," he reminded her, "I'm asking you to respect that, I'm sorry," he added before he stepped round Quinn and walked away.

Puck felt every word that Quinn said to Finn as a slap on the face. Sure, he knew they weren't together, together, but fuck, they were together a lot and if she was ready for a realtionship with someone why not the father of her child? Fuck Finn for being Mr Clean Cut All American. He stormed away, out of sight of Quinn, he hoped Finn's rejection hurt her as much as hearing her come on to Finn had hurt him.

Rachel was thrilled when Quinn reported Finn's response to the speech that Rachel had scripted for her. She knew now that Finn loved her, really, really loved her. Inside she lit up like a beacon. Rachel's performance of Paramour's Only Exception was touching, moving, especially when she dedicated it to her boyfriend. Puck made himself look behind him to where Quinn sat, it surprised him to find she was looking directly at him when she sang her part in the harmonies. "You are the only exception," she sang, her gaze fixed on Puck. He didn't know what that meant, he was confused. They really needed to talk.

* * *

"For God's sake it wasn't me, I swear it wasn't me," Puck cried as the cop dragged his hands together behind his back to slap on the cuffs.

"Look son, I have CCTV footage, I have eye witnesses and above all that, I damn well saw you running away," the cop shouted, pushing Puck before him towards his squad car. "Mind your head," he growled as he shoved Puck into the back of his car.

* * *

"Puck's been arrested," Mr Schue told New Directions.

Everyone turned to look at Quinn. "Don't look at me, I don't know anything, except that he didn't come home last night," she cried, holding her hands up to ward off the onslaught. Santana glared at Quinn with vicious eyes. "Honestly, I don't know anything," she insisted. "Shit," Quinn thought to herself, "why the hell did I promise not to tell?" she asked herself. "How stupid does he think they are?"

"Errm, hi," a nervous voice at the door interrupted what Quinn thought would be an interrogation. "Is it still ok if I join?" the new kid, Sam Evans asked.

Mr Schue welcomed Sam like the breath of fresh air that he was. "Take a seat," he encouraged with a smile, Sam lost no time in plonking himself down next to Quinn.

"Hi, I'm Sam," Sam whispered to Quinn over the top of Mr Schue talking. Quinn didn't answer but she smiled prettily at Sam then turned her attention back to Mr Schue and this week's lesson. "I'm new here," Sam added when Quinn didn't appear to want to make conversation.

"Shh," Quinn hushed Sam quietly, she wasn't really interested in speaking to Mr Big Lips New Kid, she was far too busy worrying about Puck, about the fact that he was in front of the judge today, about the fact that the lawyer said he could get sentenced for as long as six months, about the fact that if he did get sent to juvie then she'd have to drive to Kentucky alone this weekend, about the fact that he'd miss Beth, about the fact that Beth would miss him, about the fact that _she'd _miss him, miss sneaking into bed with him on Sunday night when they got home, miss sharing a bed with him at her sister's over the weekend, miss his sense of humour, the way he distracted her through the long, difficult week until it was time to drive to Kentucky again. Quinn just knew she'd miss him so much.

"Duets," Mr Schue called just before class ended. "That is your assignment for this week. Get yourselves into pairs, perform a duet for me, the winning pair get dinner, on me, at Breadstix," he announced with his trademark cheesy grin. Quinn rolled her eyes but stayed quiet as she gathered her belongings ready to go to her next class.

"So what shall we sing?" Sam asked, falling into step beside Quinn. Quinn didn't answer, she just determinedly carried on walking to her next class. "Does that mean you're thinking about it?" Sam called loudly when he stopped ouside his own class and Quinn continued walking. "I'll take that as a yes," Sam shouted, standing on tiptoe to see Quinn over the heads of other students filling the halls. Quinn shook her head and continued walking without looking back.

* * *

"So how long will you be in here for?" Quinn asked, feeling so desperately scared for Puck, he looked so much smaller than he usually did, he looked beaten, downtrodden. Quinn reached out and covered his hands with hers, his felt cold, she felt him shiver.

"Two weeks," Puck replied, his voice was small, unsure, nervous, so unlike his usual confident, cocky self that Quinn almost cried again. "That's if I follow the rules, don't get into any trouble," he qualified his statement, glancing round with nervous eyes at the other inmates who all seemed like way bigger badasses than he'd ever been.

"Well, just make sure you do," Quinn urged, her voice low, forceful. "I hate it without you," she admitted. "I know we're just friends, but I hate everything without you, even throwing ketchup covered tampons at the marching band is no fun without you," she sighed.

"I turned you from a saint to a sinner," Puck said with a smirk, giving Quinn a cheesy wink too.

"Well, you know what they say," Quinn murmured, "sinners are much more fun," she grinned. "I have to go," she sighed when the bell rang to signify the end of visiting. "Am I allowed to kiss you?" she asked as she stood up, leaning over the table slightly.

"I don't care if you aren't," Puck murmured as he stood too, leaning towards Quinn.

"Hey," one of the guards shouted as their lips touched. "Hey, you can't do that," he called, walking towards Puck and Quinn with his hand raised in the air as if that would stop them. "Hey, number 12-7-409, if I have to tell you again you'll be on a charge," he yelled, causing every one of the other inmates and their visitors to watch Puck avidly to see if he had the balls to defy a direct order.

"Fuck it," Puck murmured as he threaded his fingers through Quinn's hair to hold her against his lips. Puck deepened the kiss, both of them making the most of the few seconds of closeness that it afforded them. They were both totally aware of the cheers, whistles, stomps and catcalls from the other inmates. Puck was rudely wrenched away by the guard, he winked and gave Quinn his ultra hot half smile as he was forcibly led away. Quinn watched him go, she couldn't help but feel the warmth shimmy inside her, she caught her lip between her teeth and tried to control the tremble. She sighed as she made her way out to the truck and couldn't think about anything other than Puck's lips on hers, his tongue stroking hers. She thought about it all the way home, all through dinner, all through her aborted homework session, all through the night. And through the next day.

* * *

"If you insist," Quinn replied to Rachel although she was fairly certain that she'd phased out halfway through Rachel's waffling speech about why Quinn must pair up with the new kid. "So what are we supposed to sing?" she asked, hoping that Rachel would have an instruction about that too. "Oh well, crap," Quinn cried as she read a text message from Moya. "Shit," she mumbled, close to tears.

"What's wrong?" Rachel asked, immediately full of concern.

"Puck's had a few days added to his sentence," Quinn replied, almost ready to stamp her foot in frustration.

"What for? What did he do?" Rachel asked, feeling rather exasperated by the idiotically selfish Noah Puckerman.

"He disobeyed a direct order from one of the officers," Quinn sighed, her lips trembling as she fought the urge to cry. If she hadn't tried to kiss him, maybe he wouldn't have done it, maybe he would be getting out when he was supposed to, but no, she had to have those few seconds of comfort from him. "How fucking selfish, Quinn," she chastised herself silently.

"Can't he think of someone other than himself for once?" Rachel cried. "How are we going to win Sectionals if we don't have his bad boy stage presence?" she demanded crossly.

"And you call Puck selfish," Quinn accused, her mouth falling open at Rachel's complete insensitivity and lack of understanding.

"So what?" Rachel demanded. "He's nothing to you, he's the father of your child, sure, but it's not like she's really yours, is it? You live in the same house but you don't live together, do you? So why are you upset that he won't be home when you thought he would?" she growled.

"Because he..." Quinn cried then stopped. "Because I..." she tried again. "Because..." she gave it another go. "Just because, alright?" she finally managed to shout angrily.

* * *

"And the winners are...drum roll please," Mr Schue called, "Quinn and Sam," he shouted and held out a coupon towards Sam. "Here you go, enjoy."

Sam took the coupon, pleased as punch that he would be escorting one of the hottest girls in school to what seemed to be the most popular restaurant in town. "So, Friday night, then?" he suggested to Quinn, waving the coupon at her.

"Sorry, can't do Fridays," Quinn replied as she stood up with her bag on her shoulder.

"Saturday," Sam offered.

"Can't do Saturdays either," Quinn answered over her shoulder.

"Sunday?" Sam suggested, getting a little desperate.

"Uh uh," Quinn shook her head. "Sorry," she added, completely without sincerity.

"Well, when then?" Sam demanded, following Quinn to the parking lot.

"Tuesday," Quinn replied as she climbed into the drivers seat of the tattiest truck Sam had ever seen.

"Tuesday?" Sam repeated. Quinn nodded. "Tuesday," Sam said once more, this time with a huge smile. He continued to smile as he watched Quinn drive away, the truck spouting billowing clouds of black smoke from the tail pipe. "Fucking Tuesday," Sam grunted. "What the fuck happens on a fucking Tuesday?"

"In Lima?" Finn answered Sam's question. Sam nodded. "Nothing," Finn replied.

"Well, why won't she come with me any other time?" Sam asked. "I suggested the weekend but she refused."

"Weekends are precious to Quinn," Finn began to explain. "To Puck too," he added seeing a little bit of confusion cloud Sam's eyes. "Obviously no one's told you, have they?" he asked.

"Told me what?" Sam asked, starting to feel a little pissed off with all of Quinn's refusals and non information.

"About Puck and Quinn," Finn said with a smile. "About Beth," he added, "their daughter." Finn watched Sam's face take on that look of disbelief. "She is a few months old, erm, four or five I think, she lives in Louisville with Quinn's sister and brother-in-law, Puck and Quinn drive there every weekend to be with her, except for right now, Puck's in juvie," he explained with a little laugh. Sam gulped. He remembered meeting Puck a couple of weeks ago, he was a fearsome looking dude, and crap, juvie? Shit. Sam suddenly wished he hadn't tried to kiss Quinn. No wonder she'd pulled away and told him no. "They aren't together any more," Finn added, adjusting his back pack on his shoulder, "well, they say they aren't but they look like they are, they act like they are and I know they still..." he stopped talking all of a sudden. "It's not my business," he muttered, "but if you want to get with Quinn, you're going to have to get approval from Puck," he advised.

"How do I do that?" Sam demanded.

"How the fuck should I know?" Finn laughed as he walked away. "Good luck."

***To be continued...**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Ownership is neither claimed nor implied.**

**A/N: ...and all the way to New York...**

Quinn waited, impatience thrumming through her, her fingers tapping on the steering wheel, her eyes fixed unblinkingly on the gate, waiting for him to appear. "Oh," she sucked in her breath at her first sight of him, she almost cried as Puck was allowed through the secure perimeter. "Oh God," she sighed, her hands covering her trembling lips as he jogged through the sparsely populated visitor's parking lot towards his truck. When Puck was just a few feet away, Quinn threw herself out of the truck and into his arms, wrapping her own arms around his neck, burying her face in his throat. "It felt like I was never going to see you again," she wailed.

"Hey," Puck murmured softly into her hair, "it's over, it's all over now and I can promise you I am _never_ going back there again," he told Quinn with absolute conviction. "There weren't even any Kosher meal options, how unfair is that?" he asked. "I got shafted with the veggie option every time, it's not fair," he grumbled then squeezed Quinn closer. "Oh God I missed you," he whispered, his eyes screwed tight shut, just taking in the feel of her in his arms, the scent of her, just her. "Sorry," he muttered and stepped away slightly.

Quinn blushed a little and stepped even closer to Puck. "Don't apologise," she murmured flirtily. "I kind of like that I can provoke that reaction in you," she admitted, "I'm pleased to see you too," she added with a wicked grin and pressed against him. "We have a couple of hours before your mom gets home from work," she reminded Puck before she touched her lips to his, before she slid her tongue into his mouth, before he pushed against her, pressed her against the side of the truck, rocked his hips into her to demonstrate just how much he was feeling. "I mean, I know we said we weren't going to do this again, but you have been deprived, you must be ready to burst, I think we can consider this a special circumstance," she added as she broke the kiss to drag air into her burning lungs, she bit her lip as she rocked forward to press herself against him even more, her eyes twinkling with delight.

Puck made sure that Quinn was safely in the truck before climbing in himself, he grinned at her before he drove away. "I missed you and my mom and Chloe, I even missed school, but most of all, I missed Beth," he sighed. "How is she?" he asked, searching Quinn's face for any sort of information.

"She got another tooth," Quinn replied and pulled her phone from her pocket to show Puck the latest pictures, she wished she could have sent them to him but he hadn't even been allowed his phone. "Look, she has two on the bottom and one on the top now," she said with pride, her eyes fixed on the smiling face on the screen. "I'm sorry they barred me from visiting," she said quietly, feeling rather guilty because of the kiss that caused so much trouble.

"Forget about it," Puck dismissed with a shrug, his eyes still flitting between the road and the picture of Beth. "Did she miss me?" he asked hopefully.

"Of course she did," Quinn answered with a huge, beaming smile. "She missed her Sunday morning snuggles with her daddy."

"You want to hear the bad news?" Puck asked, his face full of woe. Quinn nodded uncertainly. "I'm not allowed to leave Ohio until I've completed my six month probation period," he sighed unhappily. "So I still won't get to see her for a while longer, except on Skype," he grumbled.

"How will they know?" Quinn asked, already planning how they could get to see Beth at the weekend.

"Ankle bracelet?" Puck said, reminding Quinn of his new electronic tagging accessory. "I got out because I agreed to wear it and take part in a community project for the next six months, I have to work at the homeless shelter," he sighed, already feeling the restrictions that his partial freedom was placing on him. "Who are you calling?" he demanded crossly, God it really pissed him off when she did that, when she picked up her phone to call someone or text someone or check facebook or twitter when they were in the middle of a conversation, and _she_ called _him_ ignorant.

"Frannie, hi it's me," Quinn said into her phone when her second call was answered, giving Puck a slightly mocking look, she knew what he was thinking. "I just called the house, I didn't leave a message," she told her sister then took a deep breath. "I know this is an imposition and it's a lot to ask, but would you and Karl be able to bring Beth home this weekend? And then some weekends over the next few months? Would that be possible?" she asked, her heart beating madly in her chest at her rather impudent request.

"Of course," Frannie replied as Quinn pressed the button to put the call on speaker. "Am I on speaker, it sounds echoey?" she asked. "Hi Puck, are you there? How are you? Beth has really missed you, say hi to daddy," Frannie rambled on. "And mommy, can you say hi? Hi mommy, hi daddy," she said for the baby. Puck and Quinn gave each other contented, sappy smiles when they heard Beth's muffled murmurs, especially when they heard the tapping of tiny teeth and realised she was chewing on Frannie's phone.

"Hey baby," Puck said with a huge smile that got bigger when he heard her squeal, picturing Beth, imagining her scent, the feel of her against him, her soft skin, her even softer hair, the sound of her snuffled breaths when she fell asleep on his chest. "Daddy missed you," he said softly. "And I will never, ever leave you again," he vowed to himself. "I've learned my lesson, I promise I won't do anything stupid in the future, I promise I will make you proud of me," he said to himself. Frannie chatted with them the rest of the way home, giving them updates and anecdotes on Beth and her activities.

"So we'll see you on Friday evening?" Quinn asked again for reassurance as they pulled up on the driveway.

"Yes, we'll probably start out just after lunch, we should be with you by the time you get out of school," Frannie said, "that'll give you plenty of time with Beth before she goes to bed," she added.

"That's great, Frannie, thank you so much," Puck answered, feeling slightly emotional. "Where's Chloe?" he asked when Quinn ended the call.

"She's at Sonja's house or maybe it's Sarah's, it's someone beginning with S anyway," Quinn replied, walking up the steps to the front door. "Mmmm, can't you wait till we're inside?" she asked as Puck grabbed her from behind and buried his lips in her neck, taking little nibbles, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back, tight up to him, he squeezed her boobs, he grew and pulsed against her backside. Quinn sighed and shivered slightly, totally contented.

"Nope, and if it wasn't for the fact that the neighbours would probably call the cops, I think I'd be tempted to just do it here, out in the open, I don't care how cold it is, I just want to be outside," Puck muttered against her skin. Quinn turned in his arms and sought to kiss him, she thrust her tongue into his mouth, sucked on his tongue as it thrust back. Quinn allowed one hand to slide down his body to where he needed it most, she pulled open the button on his pants then carefully worked the zipper down. "We really, really need to get inside," Puck hissed as her fingers wrapped around his hard length through his boxers. Just as Quinn started to pull him free of the denim, Puck pushed open the front door, just as quickly he slammed it shut and spun, pressing Quinn hard up against it, their lips mashing together again, within a second he'd grabbed her dress and started to pull it up, her thighs coming in to view, her panties too.

"Surpri-ise," Moya shouted, her voice tailing away as she and all the people stood around her, behind her, realised what they'd interrupted.

Argh," Quinn screamed into Puck's mouth as she opened her eyes and looked over his shoulder. Quinn froze as she saw Moya, standing open mouthed in shock, her hand clamped over Chloe's eyes, she saw Chloe trying to peel her mom's hand away to see what her stupid brother was doing now, she saw Frannie, holding Beth in front of her, trying to keep from bursting out laughing, she saw Karl, bent over, making no effort to hide his amusement whatsoever, she saw Finn, wide eyed, open mouthed and just plain shocked, she saw Rachel, her mortified face pressed into Finn's chest and she saw the rest of New Directions in various states of shock and amusement or, in Santana's case, furious beyond belief. Quinn saw all that in the space of a heartbeat. "Puck," she hissed and nodded towards the living room as she pushed him away.

Puck looked over his shoulder and saw the crowd of people beyond. "Ah, crap," he said almost silently and closed his eyes, his jaw clenching just a touch. "Shit, fuck," he repeated over and over again in his head. "Any chance you could just give us a minute?" he asked, he felt incredibly deflated, all outward signs of his need to be with Quinn had disappeared in direct correlation to the amount of embarrassment that had flooded him and, he was sure, Quinn. In fact, he thought that Quinn would likely want to murder him. Puck turned back to look at Quinn, their eyes locked together as he heard footsteps fade away. "Don't worry about it, they couldn't actually see anything, I was blocking their view and at least your dress wasn't all the way off," he assured her.

"But they know what we were doing, what we were going to do," Quinn muttered, her red face buried in Puck's chest.

"I know, I'm sorry about that," Puck murmured into her hair. Once they'd taken a few moments to readjust their clothes, made sure they were respectably covered then shared a quick, sweet kiss, Puck and Quinn sheepishly entered the room, Quinn just a step or two behind, blushing furiously. "Hi," he said quietly, then waited for the mocking and teasing to begin.

"Welcome home," Moya called with a few voices joining in.

"Thanks," Puck murmured to his mom as she hugged him. "Sorry about out there," he whispered to her.

"Don't worry, I don't think most people even realised what was going on," Moya lied. "I hope you've learned your lesson," she added as she drew away slightly. "I know I have about throwing you a surprise party," she muttered.

"I have," Puck assured her, "I never want to go there again," he added firmly and he seriously meant it about juvie. "And also I've learned that it's best to make absolutely sure the house is clear before you start something, it kind of hurts if you can't finish," he joked.

Moya did not laugh along with him. "I hope you were going to be careful," she murmured, her eyebrow lifted slightly before she broke away to offer more food and drinks to people.

Puck gulped but did not acknowledge his mom's timely reminder. What had they been thinking? Protection had not even been a thought in his head, possibly not for Quinn either, a few more seconds and he would have been buried so deep inside her. "And I was this far away from losing control," he silently admitted to himself. He'd taken enough note in biology class since the beginning of last year to know that even the tiniest drop of seminal fluid was enough to do the trick if the conditions were right. "Don't ever be such an idiot again," he reminded himself as he reached out to take Beth into his arms for a long, long cuddle.

Santana sought Quinn out the second she was away from Puck, as soon as Puck was surrounded by their friends. "What the hell is going on here?" she demanded in an extremely quiet voice. "I thought you two were just friends?" she hissed. "You looked more than fucking friendly out there in the hall," she stated. "Sam saw you too, I hope you know he was hurt, he thought you'd made a connection the pair of you," she added to try to make Quinn feel guilty.

"I'm sorry if Sam feels hurt or put out," Quinn replied breezily, "but I already told him that all I was doing was singing with him, and the dinner at Breadstix was part of that, I already told him that I do not have any romantic interest in him," she insisted.

"Breadstix?" Puck asked, overhearing part of the conversation. "Who went to Breadstix?" he asked, looking more pointedly at Quinn and waiting not too patiently for an answer.

"Errm, I took Quinn to Breadstix," Sam admitted with a nervous hint to his voice, he swallowed a couple of times while he waited under the scrutiny of Puck's narrow eyed stare.

"Just be damn thankful I have my daughter in my arms," Puck growled quietly. "And moving in on another guy's girl, especially when he's not there to defend his territory, that's low," he added then glanced round warily at the sound of sucked in breaths from all corners of the room.

"_Territory_?" Quinn hissed, her face set in an angry scowl. "_Territory_?" she demanded. "Since when was I _your girl_?" she asked Puck angrily. "We haven't been in a relationship since long before Beth was born so no, _Noah_, I am _not_ your _territory_, I am _not _your girl, I am _my own_ person and if I choose to share my body with you on occasion, it is that, just that, there is no _relationship_," she corrected him loudly.

"On-on _occasion_?" Puck scoffed, amused by her understatement. "Try _every night_," he countered, shifting Beth to a more comfortable position. "You can't stay away," he insisted, "so yeah, I think I get dibs on claiming any 'relationship' that's going on here," he said, almost growling at Sam instead of talking to Quinn.

"What?" Santana cried. "You said there was nothing going on between the two of you," she shouted at Quinn. "I thought _we_ had something going," she hissed at Puck, waving between herself and him.

"Santana, when are you going to learn? He only ever uses you when his number one girl is out of action," Mercedes said with a bored sigh. "_Quinn_ is his number one girl, just in case you needed me to clarify that for you," she added cattily then deliberately looked away and studied her nails.

"So _are_ you in a relationship?" Moya asked, wondering how she had missed this, missed the signs, she'd thought they'd done well at the 'just friends' bit, she thought they'd got on better since Quinn's melt down and stay at Mercedes' house.

"Yes," Puck answered, exasperated at being asked, especially in front of all the guys.

"No," Quinn answered at the exact same time. "No we're not," she insisted. "You can't be honest with yourself never mind anyone else and I won't accept that, I'm worth more than that," she told Puck and folded her arms defensively.

"Welcome home, huh?" Puck asked as Beth started to cry in his arms. "I'm sorry baby," he muttered to her. "Did we upset you?" he asked softly, hugging Beth close. One thing that annoyed Puck a bit was seeing both Frannie and Karl jump to attention, almost as if they wanted to take Beth from him to comfort her. "Forget it," Puck thought to himself, "you might take care of her for us but she's _our_ daughter, _my_ daughter, _I'll_ comfort her." Puck wondered if he'd spoken aloud because he seemed to be fending off quite a few funny looks. And what the fuck? Mercedes certainly knew where to bury the knife, right in Puck's back. Yes, so what? So he tapped Santana when Quinn wasn't in the mood or when she was unavailable, so? Was there a freakin' law against that? Puck didn't think so.

"Quinn," Frannie said quietly, pulling her sister away from the main group of people. "Would you like us to leave Beth here for the rest of the week and pick her up on Sunday afternoon?" she asked. "We can either go visit mom and dad or, and this would be _my_ choice, we can book into a hotel for a few days, maybe at Hawthorne Hills, Karl can get a few rounds of golf in, he'd enjoy that, we can be here to take care of Beth when you go to school tomorrow and Friday, then you'll have the whole weekend with her, maybe, it's just an option," she finished, her words drying up as Quinn didn't seem to be about to respond.

"Oh Frannie," Quinn almost sobbed. "I so don't deserve you as my big sister, you just, you just, your generosity blows my mind, thank you," she whispered into Frannie's ear. "Thank you," she repeated.

"Hey, it's not all for you," Frannie murmured back, a secretive smile on her lips. "I get to spend a few days with my husband, in beautiful, romantic surroundings and it doesn't hurt that this is my most fertile time," she added with a huge wink. Both sisters giggled together for a while, whispering secrets to each other, suggestions really. Frannie thought Quinn was kidding herself when she said she wasn't romantially involved with Puck and even with the few probing questions Frannie'd just aimed at her sister, Quinn still didn't seem to get it. Maybe she really was oblivious, maybe she genuinely just didn't see it, didn't realise it, but honestly, the two of them, they considered each other before they did anything, they certainly slept together at the weekends in Louisville and, according to Quinn when they'd gone upstairs to change Beth's diaper, Puck spent more time in his old room, that now had Quinn stamped all over it, than he did in the attic room that he'd been relegated to when she first came to live with him.

"I think we should make a move," Karl and Frannie told Quinn as they gave her a hug before leaving.

"You just want an oportunity to get a little rowdy," Quinn replied with a wink at Frannie.

"Hey, if that's what my wife plans, who am I to argue?" Karl asked, his tone incredibly pious but with an exceptionally naughty twinkle in his eyes. "And maybe everyone will follow us," he suggested.

"Bye everyone," Puck called from the doorstep as their visitors left, all turning back to wave. "Can you wave?" he asked Beth, waving her hand for her as he held her against his chest. "See you all at school tomorrow," he shouted just before he stepped back inside.

* * *

"No," Quinn hissed, scandalised that Puck thought it was even a remote possibility with Beth asleep in her travel crib at the end of the bed. "First of all, I haven't forgiven you for the 'territory' comment earlier and also, Beth," she said as she pointed towards the crib.

"She's asleep," Puck pouted, "she won't even know," he added as he leaned in to nibble at her throat. "Just for a little while," he pleaded, "it's been so long," he begged, adding fake sobs, "please, please, please, please, pretty please with a cherry on top," he begged some more. "Oh God, Quinn, I just want you so much," he sighed, feeling Quinn relax back onto the bed a little more, he couldn't help the little smile against her throat as he felt her arms wrap around his shoulders. Puck hitched himself up against her, got himself a little more comfortable, thrust his thigh between hers, nudged a little and felt Quinn suck in a breath. Puck didn't think it was wise to try to say anything else as his lips closed in on hers, as his tongue breached her lips to stroke against her tongue, tickle the roof of her mouth, thrust in and out, mimicking what he'd like to do, what he eventually got to do...

* * *

"Let's welcome back Puck," Mr Schue said as everyone settled down in class the next day. "I hope you learned your lesson," he added, his eyebrows lifted in question.

Puck made some ridiculous comment about lifting weights and terrorising the other inmates, Quinn rolled her eyes, she knew exactly how much Puck had been affected by the whole experience, how much it had frightened him. "What a catch, I can't believe I let you go," she muttered sarcastically, Puck gave her a dirty look in return. He really wanted to shoot back a reply, to let the whole class know that they had actually finished what they'd started against the front door, they'd done that and more, much, much more and Puck had the video footage to prove it. Quinn had eventually agreed to let Puck record some stuff 'for later personal use' as he put it, he'd held the camera as steady as he could while looking down at Quinn, filming her as she looked up, her gaze innocent, her mouth full, he'd balanced the camera on the nightstand to capture the scene as he'd slammed in an out of her, positioned behind her to give the best camera shot, he'd even held her leg up in the air to make it look better. He'd realised two things at four o'clock when he woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. One was that it was fucking awesome watching yourself fuck your girl, the other was that Quinn was going to kill him, possibly his mother too, he'd completely forgotten to wear a condom. He very wisely kept that little bit of information to himself. For the moment, anyway.

"So does anyone have anything for us today?" Mr Schue asked, sitting on one of the tall stools beside the piano.

Puck stood and walked towards his guitar on the stand in the corner. "There was one song that I practiced a bit over the last couple of weeks," he said, blushing just a little, self conscious as everyone's eyes landed on him. "Anyway, you all know where I've been and I have to tell you, it was hard being away from my family, away from Quinn but most especially not being allowed to see Beth, that near broke my heart," he said as he sat and tuned his guitar. "So this is the song I couldn't get out of my head," he added with a half smile at Quinn. "It's Daughtry's Lullaby," he said softly then began to sing.

"I can't wait to see your faces  
I can't wait to hold your hands  
I can't wait to take you places  
And watch you try to understand  
But until I do  
Yeah, until I do  
I'll be right here waiting for you

I can't wait to see your faces  
And I can't wait to hold your hands  
When you get here, it's off to the races  
And we'll tackle all life's demands  
But until I do  
Yeah, until I do  
I'll be right here singing for you

Soon I will see your faces  
And I'll get to hold your hands  
I know I'll have trouble trying to explain  
The things I don't understand  
And until I do  
Since I won't have a clue  
I'll just sing this song for you

Yeah, until I do  
And this is you-know-who  
And Daddy's right here singing for you"

Quinn, along with Rachel, Tina and Mercedes all had tears running down their faces. Quinn wished Beth had been here to hear Puck singing that song for her, for both of them. He hadn't been able to keep his eyes off of her, he'd sung the whole song to her, she could tell that he too wished that Beth had been here to hear it.

"Puck, that was very nice, a beautifully sung song but as usual, we have work to do," Mr Schue said, patting Puck on the shoulder. "Sectionals, we have to make a decision about Sectionals," he said, reading from the letter he'd recieved just this morning. "The only requirement this year is that one of the numbers must have everyone taking part, the other two numbers can be anything else and I'm thinking a duet from our competition winners, Quinn and Sam," he said before he was rudely interrupted by Rachel.

"Mr Schue," Rachel cried, aghast. "Why? Why would you even suggest that?" she demanded. "Are you _trying_ to lose this competition?"

"Oh my God," Mercedes breathed, looking towards the ceiling. "Selfish, selfish bitch," she muttered almost under her breath.

"What?" Rachel jumped up and screeched, turning on Mercedes, her eyes flashing fire. "What did you say?" she demanded. "Did you call me selfish?" she growled.

"Well if the cap fits," Mercedes said, looking at Rachel with eyes that dared anyone to argue with her.

"If the cap fits?" Rachel repeated, her hands on her hips, she and Mercedes facing each other in a stand off in front of the piano.

"Well, while they growl at each other and decide if it's handbags at dawn," Puck said in a bored voice. "Can I object to the whole Quinn, Sam pairing?" he asked.

"Why?" Sam demanded from the top row of seats. "Why? Don't you trust us?" he asked, his tone rather mocking, he was totally going to try to get with Quinn, she turned him on in the worst way.

"You're seriously going down that route again?" Quinn demanded of Puck, standing up and gathering her bag and belongings. "I thought you got over that last night," she muttered, scowling.

"Hey, I trust you," Puck replied, worried how she'd react if he upset her. "It's _him _I don't trust," he growled in Sam's direction.

"Oh God," Mr Schue sighed, he felt like throwing the papers in the air and walking out, he felt like leaving the whole lot of them to fight it out, there were far too many egos and hormones racing round the choir room. "Enough," he shouted. "I said enough," he roared, bringing silence to the room, every eye turning in his direction. "Sit down," he shouted at his students. "I don't care _who_ thinks what, who thinks _they _should be featured, _I _am making the decisions, _I _am chosing the songs and you will all perform them to the best of your ability," he instructed, his voice firm, his face set in a scowl. "I am so sick of the lip service that is usually what we hear in here," he told the still silent group. "For over a year I have been banging on about how everyone is special and deserves to be treated as such, now it's time to put my money where my mouth is. Quinn, Sam, duet, Santana, solo, Mike, Brittany I want you two to dance too, the rest of you, you'll all be in the group number, you don't like it, you know where the door is," he said then stormed out, heading towards the teachers lounge.

* * *

"I'm sorry Sam," Quinn said quietly into her phone, aware that Puck was listening even as he played with Beth on the floor. "No, for the rest of this weekend while Beth is here with us, I'm sorry, I'm just not available," she reiterated, she had to make sure he understood, she'd rather he stop calling and texting altogether if she was honest. Puck growled quietly from his position in front of the fire, he risked a glance over and scowled at Quinn who gave him a slightly shy smile.

* * *

"Back the fuck off, cheese dick," Puck growled at Sam on Monday morning as he had the poor guy pressed up against the lockers in the locker room. "She is not going to go out with you, she is not interested in you, she's just too fucking polite to say it to you," he lied, making out that he knew this for certain.

"What is going on here?" Coach Beiste demanded, her fists on her hips.

"Nothing Coach," Puck replied, still staring Sam down, "just a misunderstanding is all," he added, daring Sam to contradict him. Sam didn't. Sam didn't say a word.

* * *

"I don't need a ride home today, Sam will drop me off," Quinn said in a rush of breath as she passed Puck by at lunchtime.

"What? Wait, what?" Puck asked, turning to keep up with Quinn as she rushed on by, almost dropping his tray of food. "Woah, hold on there, say again," he demanded.

Quinn sighed with barely disguised impatience. "The only time Sam and I can rehearse is after school, we are having a couple of run throughs today to see if we have the right song for us," she explained, glancing at the clock in the lunch room. "And now I have to run, I won't even have time for this apple," she sighed and slammed it onto Puck's tray alongside his lunch. "Coach Sylvester has me listed for extra practice," she explained at Puck's confused expression. "Because I missed some while you were away," she added, heaping the guilt on his shoulders.

"I'll wait for you," Puck offered, calling after Quinn's disappearing figure.

"Don't bother, Sam will give me a ride," Quinn called back, her voice growing fainter as she got further away.

"I just fucking bet he will," Puck mumbled to himself.

"Erm, Puck?" Artie said nervously, breaking into Puck's disturbing thoughts. "Can I ask you a favour?"

"Sure," Puck replied with a frown and walked away to sit at a table with Artie following him.

"The thing is, I need some help with Brittany," Artie explained quietly, glancing round to see if anyone was listening in to the conversation. "I want to take her to Breadstix but she won't go without Santana."

"So what do you think I can do?" Puck asked as he ate his lunch, poking his fork through something unidentifiable on his plate.

"Could you come too? Maybe you could distract Santana while I get back with Brittany," Artie said with a shrug, hoping that Puck would go for it.

"And what about Quinn?" Puck asked, dropping his fork to concentrate on Artie and his request. "How am I supposed to explain to her that I'm going out to dinner with a girl I used to fuck all the time and now just fuck occasionally?"

"I think you might need to work that one out yourself, but are you sure Quinn is interested?" Artie asked with a nod towards the outside tables.

Puck looked over his shoulder and saw Quinn, clearly, blatantly flirting with Sam. "Fuck it," Puck sighed as he watched Sam tuck a stray strand of hair behind Quinn's ear, watched her give him that look through the lashes, watched her nibble her lip, like she did when she was trying to hide a smile, watched her press her arms together to force her tiny boobs to have at least some sort of cleavage. "Count me in," Puck decided, his eyes still on the pair outside.

* * *

"Forget it," Quinn hissed as Puck tried to climb into bed with her after his night out at Breadstix with Santana. "Get out," she turned and growled, anger seething in her, roiling her. How dare he? Just how fucking dare he? "Get. The fuck. Out of my room," she demanded, her voice hard, angry. "Now," she added as he didn't seem to want to make a move.

"Why?" Puck asked, still standing there with his pants unfastened, his shirt in his hands, his boots already off. "What's the difference? You and Sam, me and Santana? What's the difference?" he demanded, leaning over to hold Quinn against the matress. "You know I wouldn't have gone if you hadn't been flirting with Big Lips Blondie," he insisted as he slid on top of her, over the top of the covers.

"Get off of me now, before I shout for your mother," Quinn growled and tried to buck Puck off of her.

"Keep that up, I like it," Puck moaned and pressed harder with his hips. "Mmm, feel that? That's what you do to me," he moaned as he tried to kiss her neck.

"Did you fuck her?" Quinn demanded quietly, all the fight leaving her, she closed her eyes, she had to know, despite how much it would hurt. "Did you?"

"Did you fuck Sam?" Puck asked, praying that she would say no. Quinn didn't answer, she licked her lips and shifted under him, her mannerisms just made it seem like she was nervous, the way her pulse beat rapidly in her throat was the biggest give away. "You did," Puck said, shocked, a little disgusted, a lot surprised, as he pushed up and away from her.

"No, I-I didn't, we didn't," Quinn denied, sitting up and reaching out to Puck. "We, erm, I...we," she stuttered, unable to put a sentence together.

"You did something, though," Puck said, sitting down on the bed and wrapping his arms around Quinn, around her shoulders. "What? Did you give him a blow job? Did he go down on you? A hand job? What?" he asked. Puck had felt Quinn nod as he'd offered suggestions. "You gave him a blow job?" he asked again, Quinn nodded. Puck swallowed hard, he really wasn't sure how he felt about that, apart from betrayed which was really stupid because he'd been out with Santana and yes, she'd done the same for him, like a fucking pro.

"Did you fuck Santana?" Quinn asked again, feeling more confident, less guilty now that she'd come clean.

"No, but she did the same for me," Puck admitted, wondering why the little stab of hurt in Quinn's eyes cheered him up. "And she swallows like a pro," he reminded Quinn. "Did you spit or swallow," he asked, determined to find out as much as he could, even though it was like pouring vinegar on an open wound.

"I finished him off with my hand when I felt he was getting close," Quinn mumbled. "It only took a few minutes, I don't think he'd ever..." she broke off, she shouldn't be sharing this with Puck, it was personal and totally unfair. "Please don't say anything to him about it," she begged, just wishing she'd kept her mouth shut.

"I won't," Puck promised as they snuggled down together, both relaxed now that they'd confessed their indiscretions.

* * *

"Do you want me to show you how she does it properly?" Puck growled at Sam, again with him pushed up against the locker in the deserted dressing room. "How she does it when she's enjoying it? See?" he asked, shoving the camcorder with the screen extended into Sam's face. "Watch her, see, she does like to swallow, but not for you, cheese dick, I told you before and now I'm warning you, stay the fuck away from her or else," he added with grunt as he pushed away from Sam.

"But you know I never asked, she just did it off her own back," Sam called to Puck as he walked to the door. "And if she wants to come back for more, I'm not going to turn her away," he admitted. Puck swung back and was ready to just lash out at Sam but they were interrupted by the rest of the team.

* * *

"How dare you," Quinn demanded, stood by the side of Puck's bed in the attic room, camcorder in her hand. "I trusted you with this, for your 'own personal viewing', you said, 'never show it to anyone else', you said," she repeated Puck's words from that night verbatim. "We are so done," she hissed. "In fact, move, I'll take this room, you have your room back, that will stop you from always wanting to get in with me, you hate this room, I don't care, I just want to be free of _you_," she added spitefully.

Puck had known immediately what she was talking about and, in his defense, he did not try to deny it, he just gave her 'the look', the I'm a stud and I don't give a shit, look that he had perfected over the years. "Fine," he said, his voice completely toneless, emotionless, he still hated that she'd had her lips around Sam's dick, he hadn't been able to bring himself to kiss her when he'd fucked her the other night, not once he knew that and yes, he realised how totally hypocritical that was, he just couldn't help it.

* * *

"Carol, are you sure you want me to be in your wedding?" Quinn asked quietly when all the other girls were choosing their dresses. "I can make up an excuse, I totally understand, we both will," she insisted.

"Quinn," Carol Hudson began with a smile, both of her hands on Quinn's slight shoulders, "I know that you were caught up in circumstances and once you'd said it, it couldn't be unsaid and things just ran away with you," she said, excusing Quinn's lies and behaviour from the year before. "Things turned out for the best," she added then hugged Quinn close. "Well, almost, things still aren't right with you and Noah, are they?" she asked, Quinn shook her head sadly, no they weren't and she couldn't see any way of getting them back on track either. "Moya and I still talk a lot," Carol admitted with a shy shrug. "But apart from that, I do want you in my wedding, you were a big part of Finn's life, made him step up, grow up, be a man, and I admire you for the way you're making the best of your life and the best for that beautiful little girl of yours," she said, hugging Quinn close again.

"Thank you," Quinn mumbled into Carol's shoulder, then they both sniffed and turned away to choose a dress for Quinn.

* * *

Dancing down the aisle with Sam was surreal, singing a part in the chosen wedding song was also weird but Quinn took it in her stride. Puck didn't have to sing a solo part, he just had to push Artie as Artie sang and then join in the group part. He escorted Santana down the aisle, much to her delight, Puck was less enthusiastic. He noted the triumphant looks that Sam kept sending his way, the little gestures aimed to piss Puck off, infuriate him when Quinn responded to them in a totally inappropriate way. No, scratch that, she didn't respond inappropriately, Puck was just jealous that it was Sam sending the little signals, the hints, the looks, the touches not him. Santana was working very hard to keep Puck interested and distracted and it was exhausting, for both of them.

"Do you want to know a secret?" Puck murmured to Quinn as they climbed the stairs together before they seperated to go to their respective rooms.

"What?" Quinn replied, making herself look and sound bored.

"Santana totally fucked Finn last year, she took his v-card and replaced it with a man-card," Puck said, almost proud of his current girlfriend and her exploits. "Wonder who else she can do?" he suggested. "Sam still carrying his card?" he asked. "Maybe you should let Santana have him for a week, she'll send him back with some lessons under his belt, make it easier on you," he added before he opened his bedroom door and went inside.

"I wouldn't touch her left overs with a ten foot pole," Quinn muttered as she stomped up to her own room. "Well, not all of them."

* * *

"Who told you?" Rachel demanded in the green room before the competition.

"I think it was Puck," Quinn replied nervously. "There's no _think_ about it, I know it was Puck," she added to herself.

Rachel went off on one till Finn brought her back to reality by explaining that they hadn't been together when he had slept with Santana so it couldn't count as cheating. "I'm not going out there," Rachel announced and sat down with her arms crossed defensively over her.

"Just listen to yourselves," Mr Schue said, his voice holding traces of disgust at the selfishness of his team. "Last year we had Finn playing the diva because he found out that he wasn't Beth's father and that Puck was," he pointed out making all three participants in that little escapade blush. "But he chose to be the bigger man, he chose to rise above and we made it, we did it, we came together as a team and performed. You performed your hearts out," he said admiringly. "We need you to do that again," he reminded them. Everyone turned as the lights flashed. "It's time, go out there and make me proud," Mr Schue said as everyone stood and put their hands into the circle. "Rah," they all cheered together and jogged to position.

"I'm sorry," Puck whispered to Quinn as she waited for her cue.

"What are you doing here?" Quinn hissed. "You should be out there, onstage, go, go," she insisted, waving Puck away with her hands.

"No, not till you accept that I'm sorry," Puck said, taking hold of Quinn, gripping her hand tightly.

Quinn panted nervously, she could hear the music building to where she should make her entrance, she felt Puck grip even tighter. "Fine, you're sorry, we'll talk later," she hissed then pushed through the curtain to the walkway between the seats at the back of the auditorium.

"Where the fuck were you?" Santana hissed through the side of her mouth just as the curtain went up on stage.

"I had to pee," Puck lied as he took his position behind Santana to spin her, to dance with her, copying the moves that Sam was performing with Quinn.

Puck liked the second number better when he actually got to dance with Quinn. No one seemed to notice that she'd swapped places with Tina, least of all Santana who was soaking up the adoration of the group of young guys in the front row who were all panting at her, catching the flash of panties she was giving them as she twirled at the edge of the stage. Oh yeah, Santana knew how to grab an audience, a male audience anyway.

The result was a bit of a cop out on the part of the judges, they selected both New Directions and The Warblers to win jointly. New Directions were confident that they would beat the competition squarely in the next round, Regionals.

* * *

"She should celebrate Hanukkah," Puck insisted, picking up his phone to call Frannie and Karl. "Hi," he said when his call was answered. "I know you're bringing Beth home for Christmas, but we have Hanukkah too and it starts on December 21st, well, sundown the day before, actually, but I'd really appreciate it if Beth could be here for her first Hanukkah," he said into the phone.

"Of-of course," Frannie answered, sounding less sure than he'd ever heard her. Puck immediately thought that something was wrong.

"Is everything ok? Is Beth ok?" Puck asked nervously, his heart was in his mouth for the answer.

"Beth's fine, I'm just a little uncomfortable at her being involved in your ceremonies," Frannie murmured.

"It's not witchcraft," Puck replied shortly then felt guilty for being snappy. "Frannie, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that," he apologised. "But I really would like for Beth to be here, with my family as we celebrate her first Hanukkah, she'll get Christmas too, don't worry, we want her exposed to both religions, she can make her own mind up later what she wants to do, go with one or the other," he reminded Frannie of the discussion they'd had months ago.

"Puck, I'm sorry," Frannie apologised, sounding more like her usual self, "of course we'll bring Beth home for Hanukkah," she assured him.

"Thanks," Puck mumbled, feeling emotional, unusually so and totally unsure why.

* * *

"And so the oil that should have lasted for one day burned for eight whole days, that's why we light eight candles on the Menorah, to celebrate the miracle of light," Puck explained to Beth as she watched the lit candle in fascination. Frannie, Karl and Quinn were all equally fascinated by the ceremony, by the prayers and by the lyrical sound of Puck's voice as he intoned the blessings, both in Hebrew then in English for their benefit.

"That was wonderful," Quinn sighed quietly. "I had no idea," she admitted to Frannie as they both brought the food that Moya had prepared earlier, through to the lounge for them all to enjoy.

"You're staying here tonight, surely?" Moya insisted to Karl and Frannie. "You can't keep shelling out for hotel rooms whenever you come to Lima, it's just not fair and I know your parents are as enthusiastic about you as they are about Quinn," she added in a rather annoyed tone of voice.

"Well, it was hard trying to find a room anywhere at this time of year, we haven't been successful so far," Karl admitted, glancing at Frannie, knowing she'd spent all morning on the phone and the internet trying to book them in somewhere. "Would you mind?" he asked, looking at Puck and Quinn too.

"Not at all, I'll go shift my stuff, means you'll have to put up with me," Puck said to Quinn, standing up and passing Beth to her. "Beth's crib is upstairs in the attic anyways, we'll just put it up in there too," he added with a shrug.

Moya caught Frannie's eye and both gave a sureptitious wink. Karl caught it and pulled a face, realisation hitting him that he'd just been played as much as Puck and Quinn had. Quinn was sat on the floor with Beth who was trying her best to crawl and was oblivious to the silent conversation going on above her head.

* * *

"No funny business," Quinn muttered as Puck climbed into bed with her after he'd checked on Beth once again.

"Don't worry, I don't intend to get near you again," Puck sighed, lying to himself as well as Quinn. "Been there, done that, got the fucking scars," he muttered under his breath as he faced away from her. At some point through the night, they'd both moved far more than they'd ever thought the would.

"Don't stop," Quinn sighed into Puck's mouth as he thrust into her. She wrapped her legs round his hips and her arms round his shoulders to hold him tight to her. "Oh, oh, oh, oh," she whimpered, the bed creaking with every inward push from Puck.

Puck flung himself onto his back, carrying Quinn with him, pushing her upright to ride him, gripping her hips to help her establish a rhythm. "Oh, God," he hissed through gritted teeth. "Shit, ah, ah," he almost cried as he pulled out of her and aimed his release up her stomach. "Shit, almost forgot, no condom," he sighed as Quinn fell back down onto his chest, snuggling into him. They both fell back to sleep.

* * *

"I'm sorry," Quinn, Santana and Brittany all said together, stood in front of their team mates. "The competition is on the same day, nothing we can do," Quinn added. "Coach Sylvester deserves our loyalty just as much as you guys, you don't _need_ cheerleaders to actually play, do you?" she asked, convincing herself that she should abandon her friends in favour of another championship title.

"So that's it?" Puck asked, standing up to make a point. "You're choosing her over us?" he demanded quietly. "After everything she put you through?"

"It's not like that," Quinn insisted uncomfortably. Yes it was, it was exactly like that, they were choosing a known winner over their friends who were probably going to lose.

"Fine," Puck retaliated, "go, we don't need you, any of you," he sneered as Quinn, Santana and Brittany left with backward glances over their shoulders.

* * *

"We really do need them," Finn said to the sadly depleted huddle. "Puck, you go try to convince the team to play the second half, try to get them to do the show," he urged.

"What are you going to do?" Puck asked, wondering why he had to go talk to Karofsky, Azimio and all the others.

"I'm going to get us some cheerleaders," Finn announced, totally missing the scowl on Rachel's face when he said it.

* * *

"Guys, come on, this is our chance, this is our moment," Puck pleaded, hoping to appeal to their inner greed, their need to be triumphant. "We have this one chance, let's take it, we don't have to blow it, come on."

"Coach will never let us play," Azimio scoffed, ramming his gear into his bag.

"She will if you perform at the half time show," Puck stated with confidence. Crap, they hadn't actually run this by coach Beiste, he hoped she'd be on board with this.

"I got to take this chance," Azimio muttered, looking round at others who were willing to perhaps embarrass themselves for the rest of their lives, to grasp the chance of holding that state championship trophy. He saw lots of nods, almost everyone agreeing with him. "We'll do it," he said decisively. Karofsky was the only one who held back.

Puck hung back for a second, he waited till everyone else had left the locker room to grab their zombie costumes. "It's up to you," Puck suggested again to Karofsky. "The others don't ever need to know what makes you scared of it and trust me, dancing and singing won't make you gay, that's something you're born with and no, Kurt didn't tell us anything, I worked it out for myself."

"Does anyone else know?" Karofsky asked without looking up.

"Not unless they've figured it out for themselves too," Puck replied then ran out of the locker room to give Karofsky a few moments to himself to decide.

* * *

"You might not think you're strong enough, but you are," Finn told Quinn, hoping that she and the others would return to Glee.

"Ok," Quinn said softly, nodding, realising that actually, on the field, in her zombie costume, was where she really wanted to be. Santana and Brittany followed her as usual. Coach Sylvester watched them open mouthed as they left her ranks to rejoin their other team mates.

* * *

Puck felt slightly peeved at the way that Finn claimed that he'd won the game for them, just because he was the quarter back. "Fucking team game, dude," he grumbled quietly to himself, noting that Quinn was sending lots of interested looks Finn's way again. "Crap, we're really doing this again?" he asked no one in particular, no one else seemed to have noticed.

When Rachel decided to take comfort from Puck he was so pissed off with everyone, all the back stabbing and the infighting on the team that he just went with it. Puck reverted to his old 'fuck it' attitude, one that people had recently noted was nicely absent. As Rachel moved sinuously over him on her bed, rubbing herself on his admittedly aroused body, pressing herself to him, Puck suddenly realised that the only person he wanted to be in this position with was Quinn. "I'm sorry," he sighed as he extricated himself from Rachel's clingy arms. "I can't do this," he added, feeling more than a touch deflated, he felt totally demoralised. Gone was his usual fuck 'em all ethic, the one trait he knew for sure he'd inherited from his dad, and in it's place was the undismissable thought, let's stay faithful to Quinn even though you know she's still going out with Sam and he's trying every desperate trick to get into her pants and actually, she's trying to get into Finn's. "What the fuck is the world coming to?" he asked himself, disgusted at it all, at himself most of all.

Even when Rachel held a party in her basement room and allowed Puck to open her dads' liquor cabinet, even then, Puck couldn't quite make himself stay away from Quinn. Not that Quinn noticed, she was far too wasted, she danced around Puck suggestively, thrusting her hips at him, rubbing her breasts on his chest, all the time checking to see if Finn was watching - he was, and almost salivating - even then, even though he knew she was using him, even then Puck still couldn't make himself give up on her. He even felt a little sorry for Sam though he wasn't quite sure why, Sam seemed to be taking advantage of Santana. Or was Santana taking advantage of Sam? Either way, Puck knew that Sam would return to Quinn more of a man than he had been when they'd decided to take a break.

The climax of it all, for Puck, came when both Finn and Quinn came down with mono at the same time. "Ok, so who was kissing who?" he asked in the middle of the choir room, frowning at them both as they sat, looking sick, wishing they were anywhere else. "And is that all we have to worry about?" he demanded. "Because we both know, contraception isn't a word you're comfortable with Quinn," he added, his hands on his hips, sounding more like a father than a boyfriend, ex boyfriend, protector, whatever.

Quinn was aghast, she looked at Puck with her mouth open wide, her chin on her chest. Slowly Quinn got to her feet. "How dare you say that to me?" she hissed, waving about slightly, a touch unsteady from the fever.

"I think we should go see the nurse," Finn croaked, standing up too to try to support Quinn.

"Go, but I'll be asking again at home," Puck called after them.

"Well, that was uncomfortable," Artie muttered to others on the front row.

* * *

"Leave her alone," Moya instructed Puck. "Mr Schue told me what you said, it wasn't called for Noah, you're both as bad as each other, on again, off again, how is Beth supposed to know what's happening, huh? I think you should just back off and leave her alone," she repeated firmly.

Puck scowled at his mom, he knew she was right. Every time he and Quinn made the effort to be together, it all went wrong over something stupid. They could handle the big things, work them out between themselves but the little things, the niggling every day things, they were the things that drove them apart, like Puck dropping his clothes and his towel on the bathroom floor every day instead of putting them in the hamper. It drove Quinn to distraction. And Quinn, she had to have her books and everything lined up in size order, then alphabetical order, colour coded too, she was just too neat and tidy, it made Puck crazy, he had to mess things up just to piss her off. Maybe they should just call it a day and let each other go.

"We tried that too," Quinn reminded Puck as he lay beside her, comforting her, handing her tissues and helping her to take sips of chicken soup. "Didn't work out so well, we still gravitated back to each other, didn't we?" she asked.

"True," Puck sighed. "So are you really going to try this with Finn?" he asked.

"I think so," Quinn replied with a nod, sounding just a little surprised. "But if I do and it works out, I can't keep doing this with you, it wouldn't be fair to Finn."

"You're right," Puck agreed. "I couldn't do it to him again, it's why I stopped with Rachel, she wanted to but I couldn't go through with it, I couldn't destroy him again like that," he said with a shrug and got up to look out of the slanted windows at the town below, Puck still thought that Rachel and Finn were meant to be together, he thought Quinn was just going find that she was a stand in for the girl that Finn really wanted, and he knew he'd be there to pick up the pieces. "Why do you like this room so much?" he asked, wondering what she looked at, he always found her here staring out of the window for hours and hours. "What do you look at?" he asked.

Quinn struggled to get out of bed, sniffing as she went, breathing through her mouth and coughing with the effort. "See that, there, down there, those swings? See it?" she asked, pointing to a small park in the distance. "I used to play there, my dad used to push me on those swings, it's the last place I remember that my dad really loved me, wasn't disappointed in me, where I didn't feel like I'd let him down, where he didn't hate me. Playing there, I knew he loved me," she said with a sigh, drifting away in her mind to that time. "First time I saw it out of this window, I knew I could look at that view for forever," she added with a smile. "A room with a view," she quipped with a shrug, resting her head on Puck's shoulder as he placed his arm across her shoulder, comforted her.

* * *

"So you and Finn are together?" Rachel asked nervously, shifting from foot to foot.

"Yes," Quinn replied with a firm nod. "Puck is dealing with it, you need to also," she advised.

* * *

As the days and weeks passed, Finn found it a tad difficult to say goodbye to Quinn every weekend, especially knowing that she was leaving the state with her former boyfriend, the father of her child, knowing that they were spending the weekend together in an emotionally charged situation and, although neither of them admitted it, were possibly sleeping together, at least on the weekends. It was slowly tearing Finn apart.

Santana tried her absolute utmost to get back with Puck but he wasn't having any of it. "Sorry, that ship sailed long ago," he said as she flirted round him yet again, flipping her little skirt at him to try and get a rise out of something. "Santana, you can always make me hard," Puck admitted loudly despite the crowd of people near them, "but you have to really give it some work to make me come," he added and saw how much she sagged at that, how demoralised she looked. "I'm sorry, that's just the way it is." Santana accepted the comfort from Brittany and realised something about herself, something she wasn't ready to share with anyone else.

* * *

"I fucking hate funerals," Puck grumbled to Artie as they got ready to perform for Coach Sylvester's sister's service. As a group, New Directions performed beautifully, despite the song that had been chosen. After the emotional service, Puck found himself in the parking lot watching Quinn and Finn argue in Finn's car. "Need a ride," he asked as Quinn sat herself down on the kerb, her face in her hands.

Quinn looked up at his voice and watched Puck sit down next to her. "What's with him?" she asked Puck as if he should know the answer. "I mean, I feel things, I do," she insisted. "I'm not dead, I have emotions, I just have to keep everything wrapped up tight so that I can say goodbye to Beth week after week," she said, bursting into a fresh bout of tears.

Puck sighed and slipped his arm around Quinn's shoulders. "I know, I know," he murmured into her hair. "It's hard for me too, I think that's why I like to pull stupid pranks, play tricks on people, it releases the pressure," he explained, hugging her tighter as she turned into him.

* * *

"Wow," Santana breathed, leaning forwards to hiss over Quinn's shoulder. "How quick was that?" she asked sarcastically, noting that Finn had entered the choir room with Rachel, both of them beaming and holding hands and that Puck was sat next to Quinn. Again.

"No, we're not 'Quick' again," Quinn denied as she smiled into Puck's eyes. "I think we're just going to stay as friends with benefits, you know?" she grinned.

"Ok people, settle down. New York," Mr Schue announced. "We have to make some decisions," he reminded them. "We were lucky to get through Regionals, I don't know if original songs is the way to go for this, I'm really not sure," he said, sounding so very undecisive, worried.

"Mr Schue," Mercedes said as she stood up, "I have a feeling about this, I really think that the new original songs that we've written are going to be a smash, I really think we should do this. I know we didn't tell you about it, and maybe we should have, but we gave a performance of the new songs at my church last week and the congregation loved them all, I think we can do this," she ended faintly, sitting down a little embarrassed.

"Really?" Mr Schue asked, looking at his class with respect, a little bit of surprise and a whole lot of admiration. This group of young people had been through a lot in the last couple of years, whether directly involved or on the periphery, but they'd stuck together, they'd come through. Sure they fought sometimes, fell out sometimes, but they stood up for each other, went into battle for each other, a true band of brothers. And sisters.

* * *

"I want to take Rachel somewhere special," Finn sighed as he laid on his bed in the overcrowded hotel room. "Somewhere that she's going to remember for the rest of her life," he added, pulling a face as he concentrated hard.

"How about Central Park?" Sam suggested as he strummed his guitar lazily. Finn pulled another face, dismissing that idea.

"How about the Empire State Building?" Mike suggested as he twirled and spun around, perfecting the one dance move he was worrying about. Finn pulled the face again.

"How about hanging on to your dick instead of trying to grow a vagina?" Puck scoffed. Finn lifted his head to stare at Puck but didn't reply.

"How about taking her to Tiffany's tomorrow morning, call for take out and have breakfast there, at Tiffany's," Kurt suggested with a roll of his eyes. Seriously? Did he have to come up with all the romantic ideas for these neanderthals? "And it wouldn't hurt you to think about doing something with Quinn, maybe that way you can actually be a couple instead of just fuck buddies," he added in disgust. Puck didn't reply, he just gave a huge grin and a wink. Why the hell would he want to change things? Things were working out perfectly right now, no commitment, no worries, just lots and lots of sex.

"Kurt, that's perfect," Finn replied with a grin, "thanks bro." Kurt just shook his head and rolled his eyes again. The things he did for his brother.

* * *

"Did we place?" Tina asked, hardly daring to look. In her heart, she knew they wouldn't, she knew that all their hard work had been trashed by Finn making the stupid, stupid decision to kiss Rachel onstage, to announce to the world - the show choir world - that they truly loved each other.

"Sorry guys, twelveth," Mr Schue sighed, disappointed. He hardly dare say to them that he'd lost both of his dreams, the dream where he took his kids to the top and the dream where he won a Tony for his performance in April Rhodes' show. "Errm, has anyone seen Quinn?" he asked now as he glanced round at his group, counting heads and coming up one short.

"No, she was here a while ago," Mercedes said, trying to think back to when she'd last seen Quinn and coming up empty.

"Wait a sec," Puck said and pulled his phone from his pocket to send her a text. The reply was not one that Puck expected. "Don't try to find me?" he read out, puzzled. "What the...like hell I'm not going to try to find you," he told the message. "Mr Schue, I think she took off, ran away, I don't know but here, look at this," he said, thrusting his phone into Mr Schue's face.

"Aww crap," Mr Schue sighed. "Ok, can everyone text or call Quinn, see if she's willing to speak to someone," he requested of all the shocked students. "Why me?" he muttered under his breath. "I knew it was a mistake to bring them on my own," he finally admitted to himself.

"Mr Schue," Santana called, holding her phone out to the teacher, "Quinn answered me, she says she'll only talk to you, she doesn't want to talk to Puck," she said with a shrug. "Hey, don't shoot the messenger," she said to Puck when he asked why in a higher voice than he'd had for many years.

"Quinn, where are you?" Mr Schue asked as soon as he had Santana's phone at his ear. "Will you at least tell me you're safe?" he asked. "Please Quinn, I have to know that you're safe," he repeated, his heart in his mouth as the vulnerable, scared sounding teen studiously avoided his questions. "Will you tell me why, at least?" Mr Schue asked then listened. "Oh shit," he breathed. "Sorry, sorry, I apologise, I'm sorry Quinn, no, I really think you need to talk to Puck about this," he told Quinn, his eyes on Puck's worried face, watching Puck mime questions at him. "Alright, alright," he hissed at Puck then turned away. "Quinn, seriously, I need you to come back to the hotel right now, we'll sit down, you, me and Puck and we'll talk this through, ok? Can we do that?" he bargained. "Ok, we'll be there in ten minutes," he said with relief.

* * *

"He says you've got to do what?" Puck demanded, completely incredulous that Russell Fabray was issuing orders at this late stage, sure he'd misheard her.

"He says I have to move back home, if I don't he'll do something I know he will," Quinn cried.

"So why did that make you run away?" Mr Schue asked. "And cut your hair?" he tacked on belatedly, both he and Puck were mesmerised by the messy, uneven, obviously hacked at hair that the usually sleek, well kept Quinn now sported.

"I don't know," Quinn admitted, "I think I just freaked out," she muttered and pulled away when Puck tried to take her in his arms. "Don't, just...don't, ok?" she pleaded shakily.

"Come on, we've come this far, we can't let him get to us now," Puck reasoned. "Another year and we're done with school, another year and we'll have Beth back, we can't let him take that away from us," he reminded Quinn forcefully, taking both of her hands. "This year without her has been hard enough, just one more year Quinn, don't let him ruin that for us," he begged.

"Right, you're right," Quinn muttered, launching herself into Puck's body, trusting that he would catch her. "What was I thinking?" she asked of no one in particular. "Oh God, I have to call Frannie, I think I sent her a message that might have, oh crap," she muttered as she checked her phone that had been turned on to silent. Fifty two messages. "I think Frannie's gone into panic mode. Oh, she's pregnant by the way," she told Puck in passing as she opened all the frantic messages from her worried sister.

"That's great," Puck replied, giving Mr Schue a 'what the hell?' look. Mr Schue shrugged back, just as puzzled, he'd never been able to work out how the female mind could bounce from subject to subject either.

"We're good now?" Mr Schue asked, patting Quinn on the shoulder awkwardly. Quinn nodded as she concentrated on answering her sister's questions. "Should I leave?" he murmured to Puck. "Give you a few minutes to talk?" he offered, Puck nodded.

Puck waited till Mr Schue had left the room. "So what's really going on?" he asked Quinn, staring into her eyes, looking for the truth.

Quinn closed her eyes and took a deep breath, calming herself before she could answer. "My dad wants me, at home, with Beth," she anounced, her voice devoid of any emotion. "Without you," she added as if Puck couldn't already guess that part. "And he wants her name changed to Fabray," she announced then opened her eyes to look at Puck, see his reaction.

"And your answer to that is?" Puck asked, looking into two green, tearfilled eyes.

Quinn gave a huffed, scoffing laugh. "He can get fucked for me," she said. "He only wants us there because he's decided to run for Mayor and it wouldn't look good if his teenage daughter is living with her 'boyfriend'," she added, using air quotes and pulling a face.

"Not a chance is he getting anywhere near Beth, that's for sure," Puck agreed, hugging Quinn close. "We'll talk to my mom when we get back to Lima," he assured her. "Don't worry, I told you before, it's a bonus when your mom is a paralegal. She'll be able to get us the best advice, don't worry," he repeated. Puck felt Quinn relax into his embrace, he wished he could relax too, he had a bad, bad feeling about this. Puck wondered how much Russell Fabray wanted his daughter and granddaughter back within his fold, Puck seriously doubted that it was as much as he wanted Quinn and Beth with him, maybe Russell Fabray would have a fight on his hands. Puck could deal with that...


End file.
